Senator Aisling Dolan - Strong Voice, New Vision.
Employment levels continue to the rise in County Roscommon, according to latest figures, a Fine Gael Senator said.
The latest Labour Force Survey published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows there are 2,713,400 people at work nationally. That’s the highest rate of employment Ireland has ever seen.
Employment has increased by 50,500 since January 2023, and we have seen a 7,700 increase in the last few months alone.
In the West we have 256,100 people at work and an increase of 8,000 since last year. I’ve met so many people who have hybrid ways of working – such as a few days at home and perhaps a few days in the office in Dublin, our goal is to encourage more people to consider living and working in the West. In our counties in the western region, we have one of the highest growths at 3.2% and lowest unemployment rates (3.7%) according to the CSO Labour Force Survey Quarter 1 2024. This record rate is evident across Roscommon”
Part-time employment increased by 0.5% and this is especially important as it gives people with perhaps family responsibilities an option for additional income. And businesses are becoming more flexible in offering more part-time roles and we also see a huge demand for home help assistants. At a national level, the survey shows that two thirds of all part-time workers are women. We need to see more supports for part-time workers and important that people can also work up to 18.5 hours on the Carers Allowance. The Benefit of work estimator is a helpful anonymous online tool for people on jobseekers or one family payment to show how starting work or increase of hours in terms of weekly income. When starting work people are also able to keep the medical card for three years.”
https://www.mywelfare.ie/benefitofworkjsestimator
This data is further evidence that Fine Gael has stayed true to its commitment to job creation. Back in 2020, the Programme for Government set out to create 200,000 new jobs by 2025. Since then, employment has increased by 542,900.
It is important not to take this progress for granted. This picture of Ireland is a far cry from the record numbers of unemployment which existed when Fine Gael first came to government.
A vote for Fine Gael representatives in County Roscommon is a vote for continued robust jobs growth”
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Peter Burke said:
“Once again, the Irish labour market has shown exceptional resilience, with another successive quarter showing a new record for the highest number of people employed ever in our country. In April 2024, the monthly unemployment rate stood at 4.4%.
“It is encouraging to see that more than half of the jobs created in the past year were outside of Dublin. Balanced regional development is a core Fine Gael priority and is of utmost importance to me as Minister for Enterprise. It is also very positive to see female participation in the labour market continue to trend upwards, and more women moving from part-time to full-time positions.”
