Employment figures fiction/reality?

mammajamma

I skimmed over the Tasc report earlier, and even though I would have guessed it was bad, I wouldn't have thought 44%.

According to the report, 44% of all workers in Ireland are considered "precariously employed". Even taking into account statistical anomalies and a few percentage points here and there, that is still a whopper.

Some other bits "38% of people aged 18 to 29 were on temporary contracts", and from a news report "a staggering 82% of those people said the precarious work was all that was available"

Now theres lots to break down statistically, and to argue about whether grouped and categorised correctly, but its a decent report, and can certainly be taken as a good indicator at the very least.

I look at younger people in my family and friends (and older), and then I hear the lovely government figures blasted from RTE over and over, "unemployment number down again!", "almost practical zero unemployment" etc.

Its just not real.

Added to everything else hokey and fake about the current state of the country, its just starting to get unbelievable. Its like a lie that's told over and over again, people start to believe it despite the observed reality about them.

Its just disgraceful. Now maybe these numbers tally with past booms/performance, but regardless, its a very weak economy that has this kind of thing at its heart.

And its demoralising too. A nephew and his friend have been struggling to get any kind of decent work, floating in and out of temporary contracts, and because of the media portrayal of everything being "excellent", it makes them think theres something wrong with them. Disenfranchisement, in other words. I don't know what to say to them. And they're not the only ones. I know a few teachers in the exact same boat, and other professions too.

Is there anyone else that feels the reported "news" is completely going against their personal experiences and those around them?

mammajamma

forgot the report https://www.tasc.ie/publications/precarious-workers-precarious-lives-online-publica/

Harry Palmr

The numbers in work are pretty easy to estimate. The problem as you note is just how many are on short term contracts, bogus self-employed and such like. So it's a recovery but one that's largely built on low wages and high rents.

mammajamma

Harry Palmr wrote: »

The numbers in work are pretty easy to estimate. The problem as you note is just how many are on short term contracts, bogus self-employed and such like. So it's a recovery but one that's largely built on low wages and high rents.

Absolutely. A house of cards. Or is that "pyramid of cards"?

This is no boom, and certainly not good times for many people. I'm very lucky in that I managed to decouple myself a long time ago, but the amount of people I know struggling is really starting to annoy me (and apparently many others)

The phrase "dont p*ss on me and tell me its raining" springs to mind.

For Forks Sake

mammajamma wrote: »

forgot the report https://www.tasc.ie/publications/precarious-workers-precarious-lives-online-publica/

TASC are the 'research' wing of some of the trade union groups, take any of their publications with a pinch of skepticism.

mammajamma

For Forks Sake wrote: »

TASC are the 'research' wing of some of the trade union groups, take any of their publications with a pinch of skepticism.

In the absence of anything else, some information is better than none, at least you can interpret, something with which to work.

Of course there is the mantra of RTE on the otherhand, every thing is rosey.

Franz Von Peppercorn

For Forks Sake wrote: »

TASC are the 'research' wing of some of the trade union groups, take any of their publications with a pinch of skepticism.

Taking something sceptically isn’t a rebuttal either.

Personally I think this is the future of work. And it’s going to lead to radicalisation as it has done elsewhere.

mammajamma

Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »

Taking something sceptically isn’t a rebuttal either.

Personally I think this is the future of work. And it’s going to lead to radicalisation as it has done elsewhere.

People have an awful tendency to think in straight lines, so to speak. Its a biological imperative that allows us to predict easily. But it is a short-term strategy employed by earlier incarnations of ourselves.

Nature, on the otherhand, is everything but linear and uniform.

That is all to say, if we keep going along these trend-lines of recent history, then yes, we are doomed to a precariat.

But it is all but certainty that we are going to change course. To where and how? Who knows. But I can make a decent guess at when.

Soon.

The government, to extend a metaphor, is a Neanderthal on a mission to fit that square plug in a round hole, surrounded by modern man who want change :P

Franz Von Peppercorn

mammajamma wrote: »

People have an awful tendency to think in straight lines, so to speak. Its a biological imperative that allows us to predict easily. But it is a short-term strategy employed by earlier incarnations of ourselves.

Nature, on the otherhand, is everything but linear and uniform.

That is all to say, if we keep going along these trend-lines of recent history, then yes, we are doomed to a precariat.

But it is all but certainty that we are going to change course. To where and how? Who knows. But I can make a decent guess at when.

Soon.

The government, to extend a metaphor, is a Neanderthal on a mission to fit that square plug in a round hole, surrounded by modern man who want change :P

The problem is that the existing political classes don’t really see the issue, can’t see the issue within their political worldview, and lash out at any attempt to fix this from the left or the right.

Of course it may not be fixable.

Mrs OBumble

For Forks Sake wrote: »

TASC are the 'research' wing of some of the trade union groups, take any of their publications with a pinch of skepticism.

Unions want all workers to be full time permanent, because such people are eadier to organise and more likely to be union members.

However plenty of people don't want to be full time ( eg students, parents, semi retired). And seasonal industries (eg tourism, much food production) need temporary workers.