Madam, – I am an employer and owner of an SME. I have a vacancy for a semi-skilled technical person. I have advertised the job with an annual salary of €28,000 per annum with company van and overtime for a standard working week of 40 hours.
I have advertised the job online and received 200 applications. Over the past two weeks I have offered the job to two separate individuals who were unemployed for two years. On both occasions they presented themselves for work but said that they would not be continuing as they were entitled to more money on social welfare with rent allowance etc, even with the back to work allowance.
The business environment is difficult enough without increasing the overhead base to compete with the social welfare office. I have a good permanent job available, which will get an individual off the live register, regain lost work skills from unemployment, and contribute taxes.
Structural issues such as these will slow our recovery and reduce our competitiveness in the world market. – Yours, etc,