SOME 70 per cent of young unemployed Irish people believe they will emigrate in the next 12 months, according to a report released yesterday by the National Youth Council of Ireland
That would mean more than 56,000 young jobseekers leaving the State in 2011, a figure greater than the entire number of students who sat the Leaving Certificate in 2010 (55,783).
The research for the report, which is entitled The Forgotten Generation, focused on the interaction between social welfare offices and unemployed people between the ages of 18 and 25.
Speaking in Dublin yesterday morning, Orlaith McBride, president of the youth council, called the results “shocking”.
Hugh O’Connor of CS Consulting, which was hired to assist with the research, said the statistic that struck him most was that only 32 per cent of respondents awarded even a mid-point satisfaction level to their meetings with social welfare officers.
“We spoke with 150 people across 50 hours of research . . . The vast majority of the 150 we spoke to are clearly dedicated to this task of job-seeking,” he said.
Mr O’Connor said a common complaint regarding such consultations was the lack of “memory” within the system.
“Time and time again the young person would have to repeat their basic case history and that could take 10, 15, 20 minutes – it just added to the frustration.”
The establishment of a “more holistic service and a ‘one-stop shop’ where jobseekers can get all the supports and advice they require” was proposed by the council’s senior policy and research officer, Maire-Claire McAleer.