In the early days of recession, there was always a faint whiff of Schadenfreude when the media singled out youth unemployment from among the host of symptoms of Ireland’s faltering economy. The cosseted Celtic Tiger cubs had, according to the usual media depiction, grown up with an overblown sense of entitlement to the comfortable, affluent lifestyle afforded them by their nouveau riche parents.

Then the bubble burst and Ireland went back to being an economic cesspit of high unemployment and low opportunity. And the Tiger cubs, it is insinuated (few media commentators have the balls to say it outright), in some way got what they deserved for being so bloody privileged.
But as the months of recession have turned into years, trite media vignettes of the unfortunate ‘cubs’, so neatly illustrating how Ireland’s economy has returned full-circle to the 1980s, just don’t cut the mustard anymore. The young people signing on each month, or booking one-way tickets to London or Sydney, bear no relation to the Celtic cub cliché. They are friends, siblings, former classmates, former colleagues. They want to work, use their time productively and apply their education and skills. Against the odds, they want to contribute in some way to a society and economy that has shut the door on them.
This is the picture that emerges in a damning new study by the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI). The researchers criticise Ireland’s employment services as “substandard”, while recent cuts to supports for those on training courses “will only drive young people especially those on low incomes out of the education and training system and into either poverty or emigration.”
James Doorley, Assistant Director of NYCI and one of the authors of the report, points out that the full extent of the problem is partially masked by the high numbers returning to education and by the traditional, so-called ‘safety valve’ of emigration. But in spite of those factors, the numbers are still alarming. Unemployment among under-25s in Ireland has tripled since 2008 and now stands at 24.2%, the second highest rate in Europe. For young men under 25, the problem is even more acute: one in three is unemployed.
“We know there’s no magic wand,” says Doorley. “We can’t create jobs out of the ether but we can support young people rather than, as one of them said to us, mothballing them. They’re emigrating because their lives are on hold. At least in Australia they can have a job and a bit of dignity.”
He points out that there are many reasons why the recession has disproportionately hit youth. Young people often have qualifications but little work experience, or are last in and therefore first out of a company when jobs have to be axed. In addition, the sectors that previously employed large numbers of young people – construction, hospitality, retail – have been the worst affected by the downturn. Add to that the public sector recruitment ban and the fact that the likes of legal and accounting firms are no longer hiring, and the employment prospects are pretty bleak.
The fact that the problem has complex roots doesn’t excuse the disgracefully inadequate response.
“The State is imposing unnecessary hardship by making young people wait for their social welfare decisions: some are waiting three months to find out if they’re getting jobseekers’ allowance or jobseekers’ benefit. They’re saying to us, ‘What do I do? I’m 23 and living at home, I have to go to my parents to ask for a bus fare’. It’s demeaning.
“They go into the social welfare or FÁS office and expect to meet someone for half and hour and have a detailed discussion but it’s five minutes through a hatch. They’re told there’s a space for them on this course: go do it because if you refuse a place you could lose your benefit. The system is set up to fill courses rather than helping young people.”

Scarring
The new Programme for Government promises 15,000 places in training work experience and educational schemes for people who are out of work. The proposals haven’t been costed yet; neither is there a concrete timeframe for cutting the numbers on the live register. No representative of the new Government was available for interview on this topic at the time of going to press.
Professor Ray Kinsella, an economist in UCD, has done extensive research on the subject of long-term unemployment. He warns that a failure by policy makers to stem youth unemployment this year will leave a lasting scar on the young people affected by the jobs crisis.
“Youth unemployment for 12 months or more has many effects on future earning capacity and employability and also on other outcomes like health,” says Professor Kinsella. “When you are unemployed for an extended period of time you become demoralised, deskilled and dependent, and it becomes much more difficult to enter the labour market at the level that reflects the skills you have built up.”
The most depressing trend to emerge from the NYCI report is also one that will be immediately recognisable to anyone who has ever found themselves out of work: the stress, depression and loss of self-esteem that go hand-in-hand with unemployment. There is a clear body of hard evidence showing that these scars remain long after a previously unemployed person re-enters the labour market.
Both Professor Kinsella and James Doorley believe there is no lack of goodwill on the part of the new Government towards tackling the youth unemployment crisis. But will that goodwill be backed up by hard cash?
“There’s talk of a jobs fund, talk of 5,000 training places. All of these things would be great but we’ve been through two years of government promises and it doesn’t happen,” says Doorley.
“The stuff in the Programme for Government is great but will it be done and how soon? It sometimes seems the system takes forever to turn itself around. We need to see action and money put behind it: a plan with a budget and a timeframe and one person responsible.”
Professor Kinsella reckons it will be 2020 before the economy stabilises. So governments can’t simply put off dealing with the problem until there is a bit of spare cash to hand.
“We need to provide incentives to businesses to provide real internships. That gets people into the way of working and keeps them motivated. In the last two years, what are called internships have just been cheap labour,” says Professor Kinsella.
“Young people have invested time and money and effort in their education and suddenly, other than emigrating, they have no place to go. There is, in effect, a generation that will be penalised for our failures by being prevented from using their gifts to rebuild the economy.”
He is uncompromising in his assessment of what has been done to Ireland’s youth.
“They’ve been emasculated.”