The labour market is changing shape — from a pyramid with a broad base of entry-level jobs to a diamond with a glut of experienced middle-tier workers and a radically contracted bottom. Harvard economists warned us what happens when a successor generation can’t find work. Belfast showed us what it looks like in practice. And it isn’t just a problem for the young.
As figures on the live register of unemployed in the Republic continue to even out at 14.5% (albeit at historically high levels,) the NI Labour market report released this morning shows a slight drop in unemployment rates 6.7%, down 0.5 percentage points over both the quarter and year… Hardly an indication of a recovery in the Republic and, just possibly, a calm before the cuts really start to bite in Northern Ireland? Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He …
Good to see Mark Langhammer back in the public domain a bit more regularly these days… Former Newtownabbey Labour councillor asks some good questions in the Newsletter today… Not least whether with all this talk of moving from austerity to growth whether industry is any fit state to take advantage of any growth agenda the UK government might pursue? The UK has slipped quickly from the sixth to the 10th largest global manufacturer. The 25 per cent devaluation in sterling …
