Unemployment total falls by 9.3% in Q1

RATM · 03-06-2013 03:32PM

hfallada wrote: »

I think the economy is improving as the congestion in Dublin city has gotten worse and worse in the last 6 months. When I was going to school during the boom years of 2006 it took 90 mins on a bus for a 5 km journey. But mid 2010 it only took 10 mins at most. Now its back to about 50 mins.

I know that isnt in anyway scientific but more congestion generally means more HGVs on the road and people going to work

Port Tunnel was opened in 2006, taking 95% of HGV's out off the quays, which is why your city centre journey decreased.

I'm not sure how a 5km bus journey would take 10 minutes, especially given the frequency of Dublin bus stops. I'm not sure how the same 5km journey would take 90 minutes either- you could walk 5km in 60 minutes so why would anyone get a bus that is going to take 50% longer than it takes to walk ?

washman3 · 03-06-2013 06:22PM

Phoebas wrote: »

The number of people who are happy to cheerlead bad news or try to spin positive signs into negative ones is depressing.

I wish they would piss off to Australia or Canada.

Well at least you did'nt urge them to do what the great Bertie said a few years ago.!! Remember the 'advice' he offered to the 'cribbers and moaners' when speaking at the CIF conference.
Or maybe you were one of the handpicked audience that day that laughed loudly when he said it.

djpbarry · 07-06-2013 01:13PM

Bullseye1 wrote: »

Bit early to be pitching the tents and uncorking the champagne. Unless of course you have already emigrated to Australia and Canada and are doing well. This country is light years away from doing well.

I’d love to know what constitutes “doing well”, because from where I’m sitting, the average standard of living in Ireland is pretty damn high.

Deleted User wrote: »

Wow, the "don`t rock the boat" attitude again. Hardly anyone stood up and questioned the wide range of idiots who day after day on national tv, radio, newspapers and online claimed house prices only went up.

Hardly anyone? That’s not what I remember. Every economist with half a brain was screaming from about 2004 onwards that the Irish property market was dangerously over-heated.

Dr Nic · 07-06-2013 11:02PM

Walk around Limerick city centre and tell me the same thing!!

Where im sitting right now(just outside Toronto), the standard of living is pretty damn high! My equivalent job pays ~ 4x or maybe 5x what i would earn at home. Cars, gas, clothes are cheaper. Food is the same price. Houses i cant say

djpbarry · 08-06-2013 09:50AM

Dr Nic wrote: »

Where im sitting right now(just outside Toronto), the standard of living is pretty damn high! My equivalent job pays ~ 4x or maybe 5x what i would earn at home. Cars, gas, clothes are cheaper. Food is the same price. Houses i cant say

The recently updated UN Human Development Index ranks Ireland ahead of Canada:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index#2013_report

ardmacha · 08-06-2013 01:10PM

My equivalent job pays ~ 4x or maybe 5x what i would earn at home.

There are very few jobs in Toronto that pay multiples of the equivalent job in Dublin. There may be individuals that can secure a job in Toronto that they can't get in Dublin and so improve their prospects, but that isn't the same thing.

Dr Nic · 08-06-2013 01:20PM

ardmacha wrote: »

There are very few jobs in Toronto that pay multiples of the equivalent job in Dublin. There may be individuals that can secure a job in Toronto that they can't get in Dublin and so improve their prospects, but that isn't the same thing.

There are thousands.

ardmacha · 08-06-2013 02:42PM

There are thousands.

I'm genuinely interested in examples.

L1011 · 08-06-2013 07:40PM

Dr Nic wrote: »

There are thousands.

Examples.

Dr Nic · 08-06-2013 07:50PM

Hint is in my name

robp · 08-06-2013 09:20PM

Dr Nic wrote: »

Hint is in my name

There maybe some jobs as you suggest (although even this might not be completely true as there are some very high earners in Irish private medicine) but quite a lot of these jobs in Canada are in extractive industries which have little parallel in Ireland. Toronto has an urban population of over 5 million. Just like there is more opportunity in London compared to Dublin there is more opportunity in Toronto. Toronto is cheaper then Dublin but not in rent apparently.

sock puppet · 08-06-2013 09:42PM

Dr Nic wrote: »

Hint is in my name

Ok so doctor is one (allegedly, I don't think anyone with half a brain would believe you). So what are the other 1,999+ jobs?

Dr Nic · 08-06-2013 10:33PM

sock puppet wrote: »

Ok so doctor is one (allegedly, I don't think anyone with half a brain would believe you). So what are the other 1,999+ jobs?

I didnt say field, just jobs.

This is not a medical thread but prepare for the brain drain from irish medicine in the next few years (its already here)... terrible short sightedness

robp · 08-06-2013 11:01PM

Dr Nic wrote: »

I didnt say field, just jobs.

This is not a medical thread but prepare for the brain drain from irish medicine in the next few years (its already here)... terrible short sightedness

Nothing new, to be a specialist an overseas training has always been desirable. The only scandal is their irish course fees are often highly subsidised. Conditions here are probably well below par but salaries aren't even though the end result our health service is not up to scratch. See much less medics earn in Spain taking into account cost of living. Spain being of note for it's above average health service, well ahead of Canada and Ireland.

Bandana boy · 09-06-2013 12:29AM

Dr Nic wrote: »

Walk around Limerick city centre and tell me the same thing!!

Where im sitting right now(just outside Toronto), the standard of living is pretty damn high! My equivalent job pays ~ 4x or maybe 5x what i would earn at home. Cars, gas, clothes are cheaper. Food is the same price. Houses i cant say

Canada is known as paying its doctors well, it pays a factor bigger than nearly any other country but it is not 4x or 5x but probably 2x would be about right.

This though is a factor of supply vs demand eventually this will be rectified and salaries will come more in line with the rest of the world

Your point exaggerated as it is bears some truth for Doctors but not across all sectors
In fact you have the exact same in reverse for other fields of employment.

Canada and Australia have more employment opportunities now than Ireland and that might continue for some time but I think blaming some sort of lack of foresight on the current administration shows a complete lack of understanding of the issues facing this country.

In the main positive numbers are positive ,and while things are a long way from being good in this country they are better. We would all prefer things to be faster but going in the right direction is going in the right direction and we should all be at least optimistic that things could be better in the not too distant future.

L1011 · 09-06-2013 03:45PM

Dr Nic wrote: »

I didnt say field, just jobs.

This is not a medical thread but prepare for the brain drain from irish medicine in the next few years (its already here)... terrible short sightedness

I work in a non-care role in the medical industry, and there isn't a hope in hell I'd earn 2x in Canada, let alone 5x.

Specialist training is one job, not thousands.

djpbarry · 09-06-2013 06:01PM

sock puppet wrote: »

Ok so doctor is one (allegedly, I don't think anyone with half a brain would believe you). So what are the other 1,999+ jobs?

There is absolutely no way GPs and/or specialists earn twice as much in Canada as they do in Ireland. In fact, the latest OECD data shows doctors in Ireland to be better paid than their Canadian counterparts.

beeno67 · 09-06-2013 07:12PM

djpbarry wrote: »

There is absolutely no way GPs and/or specialists earn twice as much in Canada as they do in Ireland. In fact, the latest OECD data shows doctors in Ireland to be better paid than their Canadian counterparts.

Link?

carpejugulum · 09-06-2013 11:10PM

This is good news only if the number of people not in employment didn't increase.
That is the classic accounting trick that has been used in the last few years significantly. The number of truly unemployed people who are able to work is much higher.

djpbarry · 10-06-2013 10:32AM

beeno67 wrote: »

Link?

You can browse the data here:

http://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?DataSetCode=HEALTH_STAT

carpejugulum wrote: »

This is good news only if the number of people not in employment didn't increase.

It didn't - as stated in the OP, it decreased.

maninasia · 10-06-2013 12:23PM

djpbarry wrote: »

The recently updated UN Human Development Index ranks Ireland ahead of Canada:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index#2013_report

Yeah obviously Canadians youngsters are FLOCKING to Ireland for work and the lifestyle.

maninasia · 10-06-2013 12:31PM

ardmacha wrote: »

Where is the logic in your reply? Employment went up. Emigration does not achieve this!

What counts as employment..Job Bridge, training schemes, part-timers? Figure it out yourself.

djpbarry · 10-06-2013 01:36PM

maninasia wrote: »

Yeah obviously Canadians youngsters are FLOCKING to Ireland for work and the lifestyle.

Well, Ireland is still taking in about 50,000 immigrants per year. They must be coming for something.

maninasia · 10-06-2013 03:10PM

Not from Canada obviously.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0509/391211-emigration-report/

noodler · 10-06-2013 03:17PM

Two Points here to those getting excited at these figures without actually reading the latest QNHS:

1) Employment went up by about 20,000, unemployment went down by 30,000

(roughly).

Sadly the gap between this is likely people who have either left the country or have simply stopped looking for work.

2) 20,500 more people working but unfortunately, the increase was wholly dominated by an increase in part time positions.

In fact, the number of full-time positions actually fell!

While total employment increased by 20,500 in the year to Q1 2013,
full-time employment fell by 3,700 or 0.3% and this was off-set by an
increase in part-time employment of 24,200 or 5.6%

More people working, even in a part-time capacity, is good but I really wish people would actually read the figures before proclaiming (without good justification) that "things ARE getting better, I have been saying it all along".

beeno67 · 10-06-2013 07:29PM

djpbarry wrote: »

You can browse the data here:

http://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?DataSetCode=HEALTH_STAT
It didn't - as stated in the OP, it decreased.

Perhaps you could be more specific. I can't find reference to Doctors income on that link only "health professionals" which is obviously not the same.

djpbarry · 10-06-2013 07:44PM

maninasia wrote: »

Not from Canada obviously.

Obviously. But the only country in the top 10 of the UNHDI with a significant population of Canadians is the US, so I guess that means Norway, Australia, The Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland and Japan are are all terrible places to live, relative to Canada? Or perhaps there was some other point you were trying to make?

ardmacha · 10-06-2013 07:45PM

Hint is in my name

There are well known problems with the medical career structures in Ireland. Many move abroad to go up the ladder, so they advance, but that you not mean that similar jobs are multiple of those here, just that access to those jobs is restricted here.

djpbarry · 10-06-2013 07:47PM

beeno67 wrote: »

Perhaps you could be more specific. I can't find reference to Doctors income on that link only "health professionals" which is obviously not the same.

You'll find GPs and specialists in the table under "renumeration of health professionals".

[Jackass] · 11-06-2013 03:30AM

Dr Nic wrote: »

Where im sitting right now(just outside Toronto), the standard of living is pretty damn high! My equivalent job pays ~ 4x or maybe 5x what i would earn at home. Cars, gas, clothes are cheaper. Food is the same price. Houses i cant say

Having lived in Toronto, I think you're confusing that a bit. Wages are high in numerical terms, i.e if you worked a job for 35k in Ireland and went and got the equivalent job in Toronto and were getting paid 50k, that is the exact same amount of money when converted.

Toronto is pretty much on a par with Dublin in terms of cost of living also, although some things are a lot cheaper and not many things are a lot more expensive in fairness, but on a whole it's pretty similar (both very expensive cities). If you want to know what cheap is, cross the border into buffalo, where a beer is $3 and a fine dinner is $20.

Quality of life in Toronto is much higher than that of Dublin also, I'd agree with that.

Also, it is infinitely easier to find a job in Toronto than it is in Dublin, in pretty much every sector. I walked into a financial services job pretty much off the plane in 2010, whereas Ireland, that industry is obviously on its knees.

Anyway, back on topic, Irish GDP grew quicker than expected over the last year, but has somewhat stagnated again.

12,000 jobs were created in the private sector, but almost the same amount was "created" by people switching their status from unemployed to "self-employed / care giver" which doesn't lesson the burden on the state any amount, but does look good when showing employment figures.

Also, a massive proportion of job creation is part-time work, and these people may still be claiming benefits, but are not classified as unemployed.

Furthermore, I would imagine anyone who is given a placement through job bridge / takes mandatory courses etc. to maintain their benefits can technically be counted as in further education and massaged out of the figures.

Employment figures aren't vitally important really. They can be easily manipulated. The only thing that really matters is output and value of the economy, once that is showing strong growth, everything else will follow.

In real terms, the Irish economy has been stagnant between 0% - 2% (negligible) growth and forecasts for both this year and next don't predict any greater value of growth than this.

These kind of press release success stories may be the type of thing that is designed to have a feel good factor and increase consumer confidence and perhaps with the good weather and some "good" economic news, consumer sentiment might rally for a moment and increase retail and service industry performance, in which case I really just put a pin in that plan.

But for the sake of just being honest and not wanting to help drag down the Irish economy. Go out and buy an ice cream tomorrow everybody. If every single one of us does it, that's got to spike the figures somewhat, right?

Unemployment total falls by 9.3% in Q1

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