JOB LOSSES IN IRELAND, 2009: CONSTRUCTION, TRANSPORT, NURSES AND TEACHERS MOST AFFECTED
Jun 9th, 2010 by Conor McCabe
The figures above are based on the Quarterly Household Survey reports of employment by SOC classification. They relate to the changes in employment from the fourth quarter 2008 to the fourth quarter 2009.
The Quarterly Household Survey is a sample survey, details of which are outlined here.
The survey is designed to measure trends, rather than give precise numbers. As such, it functions best when comparisons are made between quarterly surveys.
Whereas the previous post dealt with the broad occupational groupings, here we look at the changes in employment by job title, which gives a more detailed view of the affected sections of the workforce.
The job-title figures are not part of the Quarterly Household Survey Report as released on the CSO’s website, but they are available on request from the CSO. They kindly sent me the detailed breakdown by email a couple of weeks back, but I only got around to graphing them this weekend, due to other commitments.
And just to repeat the CSO’s caveat on the figures for farming:
The figures show that it has been a bad year for those in construction and goods transport, which ties in with what we know about the economy since 2008, but it has also been a bad year for nurses and teachers/teaching assistants.
Again, no real surprise for those who work in these professions, as they know all too well that the asinine talk in the Irish media of permanent and unlayoffable teachers and public servants has about as much to do with the reality of public sector contracts these days as headlines which proclaim that now is a good time to buy, or that Ireland’s empty houses and apartments were mostly holiday homes so we’d nothing to worry about, or… well, you get the drift.
In Ireland, management is expanding while the workforce is contracting.
It’s not wily green pixies with rainbows and gold-pots, but flustered white rabbits with watches and waistcoats, which scamper across this tigerless land.
Henry A. Giroux makes the point that in the US the cuts in education, making teachers unemployed and cutting wages is part of a wider agenda. One could say the motivation, in cutting back on teaching staff, is not dissimilar here.
http://www.truthout.org/teachers-without-jobs-and-education-without-hope-beyond-bailouts-and-fetish-measurement-trap60146
I hardly know where to start with your assertion that teachers and nurses were “most affected”.
Apart from the obvious point that your barchart clearly shows nurses and teachers were less much impacted in absolute terms than drivers and sales assistants.
Or the no less obvious observation that impact must be measured relative to the total previous employed in that sector.
Impact measured relative to the total previous employed in that sector.
These figures are Q4 2008 to Q4 2009
Other teaching professionals: -30%
Drivers: -28%
Local Government Clerical Officers and Assistants: -24%
Education assistants: -19%
Administrators of schools and colleges: -19%
University and RTC teachers: -11%
Sales assistants: - 9%
Nurses: -9%
VEC and Secondary School Teachers: -2%
I should have included sales assistants and civil servants in the title, that’s true.
As for drivers, well, I would have thought “transport” listed as one of the areas most affected would have covered drivers.
But that would have involved you actually reading what I wrote, instead of just letting your knee-jerks type for you.
The losses were mainly teaching assistents. Thses were never formalised as part of the infrastructure but rather as an extra. They were never recruited by the teachers unions (as far as I know) which was a disgrace. In my opinion rather than reduce class sizes we would have been better off if every class had at least one classroom assistent. Better for all the students, the main teacher. Better for discipline etc.
I do not think many teachers have been actually made redundant, if any. What has happened is no recruitment across the board which is particularly affecting the young of all trades, professions and none.
It is a bad time to be leaving school or to lose your job.
Some interim measures I would call for would be a ban/limit on overtime and extras like yard supervision should be left to the young teachers with high mortgages.
On a European level we should be looking for a 30 hour week. Spread the work around. With new technology there will never be enough for everyone.When the dust settles there will be lots of changes whether we like it or not. The Far East will be in a more obvious catch up situation.We must adapt to survive. It would help if we had a regime which was not made up of such moronic individuals.
what an incredible statement to make. There’s more to teaching than the leaving/junior cert. first of all the largest drop-off in not in teaching assistants, but in other teaching professionals - down 30% - and this includes those working on PLC courses which are supposed to be getting a BUMP with the government’s plans to educate the youth in lieu of Dole. Secondly, third level is down 11%. How the hell does this tie in with government plans for a ’smart economy’?
I suppose by teaching you mean those employed on the junior/senoir cycle conveyor belt - the rest are only ‘pretend’ teachers - but even this is down 2%. this is madness as the supply of students isn’t the same as cars. Not to give Fianna Fail any ideas or anything but unless the government is actively assassinating children and teenagers, there’s now less teachers for more children.
So. Administration staff have been let go. Teaching assistants have been let go. 30% of non junior / senior cycle teachers have been let go. where’s the ‘only’ in all of this?
“I do not think many teachers have been actually made redundant, if any.”
Well you are wrong. Schools are letting go of staff and they are NOT replacing them. There’s no money to replace them.
‘if any’. I ask you. Some people.
I am afraid you have missed my point.
But first “pretend teachers”. I definitely feel that teaching assistents are a vital part of the teaching experience.I would go along with the need to further professionalise them but to call them pretend.
My other point is that permanent teachers as far as I know have not been made redundant. I would be curious to know how many temporary were/are in the system at any level as they would be the target. My point here is that temporary positions should have been the exception and this was a failing of the unions in the good times.In FAS, SIPTU watched temporary positions like a hawk and made sure they were kept within tight limits.
I cannot disagree with your figure of 30%. I find it hard to believe that the system could function with this kind of drop.Either there was a lot of over staffing (unlikely) or those left are taking up the slack (I am sure it is appreciated).Think of a school with say 60- teachers. How would the timetable woirk with 18 less. And this is woithout the extra hour.
I am still surprised by the figiues given. The freeze as been across teh board in the public service so I would figure that it should roughly affect all sectors say plus or minus say 5 to 10 %.Outside of the Dept of finance and NAMA there has been no recruitment. The County Councils are been starved. How is it that the cuts have been so effective that quickly in education. Please explain, I don’t know.
Was the PLC sector disproportionally temporary. Were they the other teaching professionals. 2% reduction at second level versus 30%, some difference.It is difficult to sack permanent public servants.
I would agree that the long term and short term solution to unemployment is education., so an expansion is called for rather than a reduction. I would also see a reorganisation of education, possibly looking at Finland which has been recently lauded.
On a depressing note more cuts next year, with tha wage cuts already done and an agreement for no more, this leaves staff reductions. I cannot see any sector being immune. All I can say is that I did not vote for any government party or FG ever. And I voted for the left candidate in SIPTU down the years, so don’t blame me.
On a broader economic note could the European ruling classes feel that the only way they can survive in a globalised world competing with incredibly low costs countries is to reduce wages and conditions and not just in the sectors directly effected.. Seems likely.