Jobs creation

DennisSabre

Hi,

I believe that the Irish Government is telling us that about 86,000 jobs (??) were created in 2006. I was just wondering as to where i could find more info. as to the exact nature of these jobs i.e. categorized as skilled manufacturing, r and d, construction, service etc. I'd also like info. such as whether the jobs are permanent, location of employment etc.? Has any detailed breakdown of the figures been published?

brianthebard

I'd say the majority of them were immigrants really, based on the number that are coming into the country. So most of them would be in the secondary or tertiary sectors, minimum wage type things. I doubt there are figures out for 2006 yet, but check out the government website you may find figures for the year before at any rate.

InFront

http://www.fxcentre.com/other/topic20070222.pdf

Some information there. Also if you scroll down to the very end there's a useful table: Construction, health, financial services and education are the big increases in that order.

DennisSabre

Many thanks for that. The table at the end of the AIB report certainly makes for interesting reading. I assume 'Other Production Industries' includes Pharma, Biotech etc. There was an increase of 3900 in this category last year, all non national, probably low skill, low pay?

Overall there appears to be an errosion of manufacturing in this country with a drift towards service industries. So how do we convince Paddy O'Hardworker Ph.D., who has just lost his job because the Pharma. company he worked for has pulled out of Ireland, that the best we can do for him is to 're-train' him to work in a convenience store. Unless some well known chain of convenience stores opens a centre of excellence for convenience stores studies employing 5000 Ph.D.'s we seem to be getting ourselves into a bit of a mess. A sustained growth in manufacturing is really needed for the long term health of this country. Out of interest, say x jobs are lost and y jobs are created in a given time period do or can economists correct these figures taking into account the job type, skill level, salary, permanent vs. non-permanent etc.

PS I' am now convinced that we must have the highest density of convenience stores in the world!

Jackie laughlin

Dennis,
You have just broken into one of the key areas of fairytale Ireland. Listen out for "we must develop a knowledge economy" and "the future is in 4th level education and the production of Ph.Ds." In the real world the kids graduating with engineering/science degrees find that there are few jobs in their fields. Well OK, there are exceptions but ask a recent graduate - or better still post graduate - in computer science about vacancies. The kids know the truth and are opting for humanities.

The "4th level" is a marvellous new concept. Sure, research is done in Ireland and it can be expanded but the numbers will always be small. Emphasising "4th level" as a solution is ridiculous but it's a great buzz phrase, implying progress, produces journalist interest and has the universities slavering at he thought of a source of renewed state funding at last.

DennisSabre

One of our biggest problems is that we have devalued education somewhat. Not only has the leaving cert. been dumbed down but we have also managed to trivialize third level education. We've got to a stage here where one can essentially do nothing and still have an OK life based on government handouts. We seem to have lost all respect for hard work.

I completed my Ph.D. in chemistry in the early 90's and (1). it was an honour to be able to do one and (2). it got me a decent permanent job which I still have today. So what's different today? Very few students want to progress to this level and when they do, the chances of getting a half decent job are negligible! The only way to protect and develop education is to ensure that our graduates can get real jobs and their contribution is recognized by society.

We have a country now with Paddy and Mary Average (or Vladamir and Tatiana Averagki) where one builds the appartment block they live in and the other works in the convenience store in the block. This experiment has a finite lifetime!

ballooba

Bertie's figures are completely off the wall. The workforce is growing at 5% p.a. which this year will be circa 100,000. If Bertie's figures are accurate then it means that we have a jobs deficit of circa 15,000 p.a.

MontgomeryClift

34,800 new jobs (40%) were in the public sector.

One thing I'd like to know is how many university graduates are taking jobs in construction in the absence of 'proper' jobs for them.

Jackie laughlin

The reason that fairtale Ireland exists is poor quality journalism especially in broadcasting. If someone comes on the news tomorrow and says yet again that we need more science graduates or that "4th level education" is the answer, the interviewer will not question the truth of this.

By the way, does anyone who first came up with the term "4th level education"? It was unknown a couple of years ago.

leeroybrown

Jackie laughlin wrote:

By the way, does anyone who first came up with the term "4th level education"? It was unknown a couple of years ago.

I don't think it really important who first coined it but I think it was used in some of Bertie's speeches and sound bites a couple of years ago and appears to have since turned into a full IUA initiative and a marketing buzzword in the education sector.

ballooba

If a Masters is 4th level, then surely a PhD is 5th level?

Is there a 6th level? What was wrong with just 3rd level?

There is no such thing as a 4th level institution. :rolleyes:

Who am I? :eek:

Jackie laughlin

Why can't journalists make fun of this guff?