Jobless up 289% in four years
Local economy reeling at loss of €240m
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Thursday March 11 2010
FIGURES compiled by The Corkman have highlighted the shocking jobs crisis that is crippling the North Cork area, with each of the region's four main social welfare offices experiencing a massive increase in the number of people signing on the live register since 2007.
In February 2007 the combined live register total for the offices in Mallow, Fermoy, Macroom and Newmarket stood at 2,632.
However, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office, the combined total for February 2010 stood at 9,265 – an increase of 6,633 or a staggering 252% over the four-year period.
Of the four offices Macroom has seen the highest individual jump with its live register figure increasing by a staggering 325%.
Newmarket registered a 298% increase; Mallow experienced a jump of 249% with the total for Fermoy increasing over the fouryear period by 195%.
All of the four offices have recorded four-year increases above the average for the entire county of Cork, which stood at 190%.
The figures provide an accurate barometer of just how badly the recession has hit the north Cork area, and serve to highlight the devastating effect that the closure of a number of high profile employers has had across the region.
They further underline just how badly the economic slump has affected the wider north Cork region, with the number of people signing on the live register at each of the four offices now standing at an all time high.
What is does not accurately convey, however, is the scale of the financial impact that the recession is having on the region due to the loss of wages. With the current average industrial wage now standing at just under €700 per week, the figure equates to a total loss of earnings to the local economy of just over €240 million over the four-year period.
- BILL BROWNE
