While the drop in unemployment in July shows people are getting back to work, Indeed says that job creation and reskilling opportunities will be ‘vital’ moving forward.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has revealed that the Covid-19 unemployment rate dropped from 23.1pc in June to 16.7pc in July.
The figures were based on adjusted unemployment rates for the pandemic, including Live Register figures and claimants of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP). The standard measure of unemployment grew from 4.6pc in June to 5pc (114,600) in July, however this marked a drop from 5.1pc (123,800 people) in the same month last year.
In the Covid-19 adjusted figures, those aged between 15 and 24 saw the highest unemployment rate in July, at 41.2pc, while the rate for people aged 25 to 74 was much lower at 13.7pc. Unemployment, adjusted for Covid-19, was roughly even for men and women, landing at 16.5pc and 16.9pc, respectively.
Commenting on the latest figures from the CSO, economist at job site Indeed, Jack Kennedy, said the numbers indicated that “many people are getting back to work”.
“The success of the July jobs stimulus plan will be important for retaining existing jobs and creating new ones,” he said.
“Extension of the PUP and the Employment Wage Support Scheme will help those most affected stay afloat, while recruitment subsidies under the JobsPlus scheme should help the 41.2pc of those under 25 who are receiving PUP.
“This will be very important, as the option of emigration for young people we usually see during times of economic distress is currently unavailable.”
The PUP and the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) began as short-term emergency income supports, which were due to stop at the end of this month. However, PUP has been extended until April 2021 and a new Employment Wage Support Scheme will replace TWSS from 1 September and will also run until April 2021.
“As well as job creation, reskilling for those in badly hit sectors, such as travel and tourism, will be vital to help the workforce transition to new roles,” Kennedy added. “We’ve seen from our own data that people are keen to get back to work. The fastest growing search term over the past two weeks on our Irish site was ‘any work’, indicating the urgency people are feeling to tide themselves over.”
Kennedy said that remote jobs now account for 5pc of all ads on Indeed and this is likely to increase as “companies begin planning longer term for remote workers”.
“Searches for remote work were the most popular on our site over the month of July, so there is certainly an appetite for it among jobseekers,” he said.
