"THERE are only two ways to break the cycle of poverty and unemployment in Ireland educate and migrate." That was the blunt message from the director of FAS, Mr John Lynch, at the EURES (European Employment Services) conference in Killarney.
The unemployed in each member state have the lowest levels of skill and mobility and the emphasis at yesterday's session was on developing skills to make the EU labour force more mobile and efficient. The conference is being attended by the directors general of the employment services in all EU states.
While there are 18 million people registered as unemployed in the EU (the highest recorded figure), there are also skill shortages in practically every member state.
The Eures adviser in Malmo, Sweden, Mr Dieter Zippert, said hundreds of nurses commuted daily from that city to work in Copenhagen because Danish pay rates were nearly £400 a week higher. However, they continued to live in Sweden, where income tax was much lower. A similar situation operated with Norway, where Swedish nurses filled an important gap in the labour market.
The FAS adviser to the Zentalstelle fur Arbeitvermittling, Mr Dermod O'Byrne, told a similar story. "Germany has 4 million unemployed, most of them low skilled or unskilled. The Germans want skilled immigrants," he said. FAS was constantly looking for skilled Irish workers to fill vacancies in Germany, but it also sought skilled workers, Irish and German, to fill gaps in the expanding Irish labour market.
Obstacles to travel were widely debated. Most EU member states have strict controls on unemployed people crossing borders. Normally, residence permits arc only issued for three months and, if an unemployed migrant does not find a job within that period, the permit is not renewed.
The assistant general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Mr Kevin Duffy, said European trade unions were increasingly having to provide advice, information and services to members travelling in search of work or recruited to work abroad.
They also found themselves having to help members who lost their jobs and could find themselves homeless and destitute.
The construction and tourist industries were the biggest problem areas. Because rates of pay, taxation and the cost of living varied enormously, it was often difficult for migrant workers to find out exactly how much better off they will be working abroad, Mr Duffy said. Also, retirement ages in most EU countries arc lower than in Ireland. People could find themselves having to retire without enough contributions to qualify for a pension.
A new OECD survey shows that an Irish emigrant to Denmark would have to be earning 56 per cent more to maintain an Irish standard of living and 33 per cent more if the move was to Germany. The only EU state where the cost of living is significantly cheaper than Ireland is. Portugal.
Relatively few Irish workers sought jobs in other EU countries, apart from the UK, said Mr Duffy. Where they were recruited to work abroad, they were often totally unprepared lord the differences in culture and language. "If workers are to benefit fully from the opening up of the European labour market, more facilities will have to be provided to assist them in not just working, but living in the country of their choice
Several delegates expressed concern that the advent of European Monetary Union would create new pressures to migrate in search of work. National governments would lose much of their ability to protect vulnerable areas of employment through fiscal and social legislation.