Irish Urge Children to Leave Amid Job Losses [View all]

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-07/irish-urge-children-to-leave-as-export-recovery-masks-lost-jobs.html

Anthony Roche is urging his unemployed son to emigrate to Australia from Ireland to escape joblessness stemming from the country’s economic collapse.

“I’ve seen the good times and the bad and these are the worst,” Roche, 45, who works a day or two a week after closing his business laying floors for bars and restaurants 18 months ago, said outside a welfare office in Dublin. “There are plenty of people there to work, but there isn’t any work out there. That’s why people are leaving these shores again.”

While signs are emerging that Ireland is beginning to recover 15 months after an international bailout, the government says the economy is in the midst of the worst crisis since World War II. The nation’s unemployment rate, at 14.2 percent in January, is close to the highest level since the 1980s when the country last endured similar austerity measures. Only Spain and Greece have a higher jobless rate in the euro region.

Unemployment may climb to 14.6 percent this year, the central bank forecast on Feb. 2, as companies such as Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Allied Irish Banks Plc prepare to shed more workers. Prime Minister Enda Kenny said Feb. 5 that the government is finalizing policies to provide assistance to people at risk of being out of work for the long term and to help small businesses with loans.
‘Huge Problem’