Builders sign on
Thursday July 24 2008
Figures released for the month of May by the Central Statistic Office (CSO) revealed a massive 14.8 per cent dip in the number of people employed in the sector nationally when compared to the same period in 2007.
The spokeswoman said the current crisis is having a serious impact in the industry at a local level, with the Fermoy office recording a ?significant rise? in the number of construction workers signing onto the live register in recent weeks.
In June, the number of people on the live register jumped by 151 over the previous month, with a total of 1,330 people signing the register ? a situation directly attributed to the meltdown within the building industry. We have seen a steady increase in the number of construction workers signing on since the beginning of the year. However, we have noticed a significant rise in these numbers over recent weeks,? said the spokeswoman.
She said that of particular concern was the number of young unqualified males now signing on ?? prompting fears that they will be forced to emigrate to find work.A lot of these younger people have not yet finished their apprenticeships and, to be honest, the chances of them finding jobs are not good,? she said.If current trends are anything to go by we expect the number of job losses within the sector to increase dramatically at the beginning of next month when builders return from their traditional summer break,? she added.
One 21-year-old local man who recently lost his job as an apprentice electrician said that he has now been left with little option but to look abroad to find work.
The man who asked not to be named, told The Corkman that he was due to qualify within the next 12 months.I can?t even begin to describe how frustrating it is to spend years working towards qualification and now find myself in a situation where I can not even get a labouring job,? he said.Already some of my friends have gone to England to find work. Unless I can find a job within the next few weeks I will have no option but to join them,? he added.
Fermoy town councillor and construction worker Seamus Coleman said that there is a genuine fear that the current situation will result in a return to the kind of mass emigration witnessed during the 1980s.The feeling within the sector is that there is no chance of a recovery within the short term,? he said.The mismanagement of the Irish economy over recent years is now coming home to roost and it is the young people ? who are left with no option but to emigrate ? who will be forced to pay the price,? he added.
