Irish Workers Emigrate In Record Numbers Keeping Ireland’s Unemployment Down

Irish workers are on the move again. This time it’s a 21st century wave of Irish immigration that’s taking away Ireland’s most skilled workers.

More than 100,000 Irish workers are expected to leave to find jobs before end of 2013.

Ireland’s unemployment rate was 14.7% as of August 2012. For many Irish workers the only option once again is to look abroad for employment.

Irish emigration has increased as the recession bites and the government prepares for more cuts to the public sector in a bid to drive down the huge national debt after accepting austerity measures from Eurozone financial regulators.

Emigrants Leave Ireland by Henry Doyle, 1868. Two centuries later Irish workers are emigrating for work.

Irish government figures shot that as many as 40,000 people are leaving Ireland annually because of employment prospects are so poor.

Analysts say the high emigration figures are one reason that the unemployment in Ireland isn’t higher.

The Central Statistics Office said that although fewer people are working, so far this year the number of people available to work has been reduced by around 30,000.

More young people are also deciding to stay in school longer.

Unemployment is much higher among the young. Around a third of those between the ages of 20 and 24 are out of work.

Irish Economy Hit Hard

Most of the Irish economy has seen a rise in unemployment. Construction, finance and administration have been particularly hard hit.

However, according to the government’s Quarterly National Household Survey, 6,300 jobs have been created over the last year in the restaurant and hotel industry.

Ireland also recently won a vote of confidence from multimedia and Internet content business when videogame maker Electronic Arts opted to expand a new development center in Galway.

Following a trend seen elsewhere in Europe, more jobs were lost in the public sector than in the private sector. Private companies registered a 0.3% decline. There was a 6.3% decline in public sector jobs.

According to Ireland’s Central Statistics Office the number of people leaving the country was higher in 2012 than last year.

For the year ending in April 2012, 46,500 Irish citizens decided to emigrate, up 16% from 2011.

The number of Irish men deciding to move abroad rose to 26,000 compared with 24,500 last year. The number of women leaving Ireland increased from 17,500 to 20,600.

However, the number of returning to Ireland increased for the third consecutive year to 20,600. That number is still far lower than the 30,700 Irish who returned during 2007.

When the Working Abroad Expo opens 6 October 2012 at Dublin’s RDS conference center it is likely there will be a queue of young, skilled and educated people seeking work and a new life elsewhere.

Exhibitors come from English-speaking nations such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand where there are labor shortages.

Officials from regional governments in places like Western Australia or the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada will be there recruit some of Ireland’s brightest workers.