Unemployment statistics: Too many still struggle with poverty
The American philosopher Henry David Thoreau once observed that “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”.
His aphorism was a 19th-century reflection on work-life balance but it could be easily rendered gender neutral and describe the hundreds of thousands of people in 21st-century Ireland who spend most of their waking lives struggling with poverty.
A new report by Social Justice Ireland reveals that the plight of the so-called working poor is going from bad to desperate, despite the economic recovery.
This year’s edition of Poverty Focus says 780,000 people (16.5% of the population) are below the poverty line. What’s worse, 105,000 of those have a job and the situation has been getting worse since the recovery.
It is hard to argue with the observation by the Social Justice Ireland chief executive Seán Healy when he laments: “If people in employment can’t be guaranteed a life free from poverty, then there is something seriously wrong. We have been saying for quite some time now that Ireland’s social contract is broken. This is further proof.”
At the same time, we are constantly listening to our political elite trumpeting the fall in unemployment figures as evidence that the Government is getting its priorities right and that we are all on the road to nirvana.
Lower unemployment is, of course, welcome. The latest figures put it at 6%, the lowest since 2008 and one of the lowest in the EU.
But what do these figures actually mean in practice?
The unemployment rate is a very crude instrument. It doesn’t take into account the actual experience of those in low-paid or precarious jobs, many of whom are forced to take work that offers them less than 20 hours a week and who, as a consequence, try in vain to live a decent and dignified life.
They are caught between two stools: Low pay and the increasing cost of living.
Average rental prices rose by 6.4% nationally over the year, according to a new report from the Residential Tenancies Board.
As well as that, the Economic and Social Research Institute estimates that Brexit will increase the cost of living further and that lower-income families will fare the worst.
Unemployment statistics can also serve as a distraction from the important job of ensuring that the most vulnerable get the most help.
The first thing we must do is to ‘get real’ and stop using unemployment figures as a reliable indicator of shared prosperity. It no longer is and it is doubtful whether it ever was.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, we need to ensure that we have robust social support structures in place for the benefit of those hard workers who get out of bed in the morning and make an effort.
As Mr Healy puts it: “The priorities of our policymakers should reflect the will of the people. This is not the will of the Irish people. Policymakers need to take action.”
