New CSO figures emphatically debunk opposition efforts to downplay jobs based recovery – Doyle

The jobs, income and migration statistics issued today and yesterday by the Central Statistics Office serve to unequivocally refute the bogus opposition claims about the quality and location of the significant amount of jobs being created according to Fine Gael TD for Wicklow/East Carlow, Andrew Doyle.

“I warmly welcome the recent jobs and income figures issued by the CSO, not only because they show that the recovery is real, widespread and gathering pace, but because they emphatically give the lie to opposition efforts to downplay the economic recovery.

“Some of the myths put forward include that the jobs are not permanent; that they are only bring created in Dublin; that they are low income positions; and that emigration is keeping unemployment levels down. These assertions have not been backed up by any data.

“The facts as provided by the CSO provide incontrovertible evidence that they are wrong. For the record:
• 99.5% of the 57,000 jobs created in the last 12 months are full time jobs
• 73% of the jobs created in the last year are outside Dublin and the fastest job growth is happening in the South East, the Border and the Midlands regions
• The majority of the new jobs are in high paying sectors of the economy and average weekly earnings are up 1.8% in year to Q2 2015
• Emigration decreased by 13% in the last year and immigration increased by 14%

“This is just a sample of some of the data from the CSO stats which emphatically demonstrate that the jobs are real, sustainable, fairly renumerated, and are being created throughout the country and that people are returning home to take up jobs.

“Wicklow has experienced a decrease in unemployment of 33% since the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs was launched in 2012. That’s 11,000 people in the county who no longer sign on.

“This Government is determined to replace all of the jobs lost under the last Fianna Fáil government. We are doing this by helping to create sustainable jobs which are based on sensible economic planning. We are determined to make work pay for people by reducing taxes and removing lower paid people from the USC net.  We still have a long way to go, too many people are still out of work, but we are moving in the right direction. 

“It is in all our interests that Ireland’s recovery continues. Those on the opposition benches should stop talking it down. They should by all means hold the Government to account but I urge them not to resort to misinformation to score political points.”

ENDS