"No quick-fix" to unemployment says Hanna

The Minister for Employment and Learning Carmel Hanna has said that there can be "no quick-fix" to solving long-term unemployment.

The Minister made her warning during a speech to the Fourth Annual Delegate Conference of the Organisation for the Unemployed Northern Ireland (OUNI) in Belfast.

"Despite the growth of the Northern Ireland economy over the past decade too many of our people are caught within the cycle of long-term unemployment and for a variety of reasons face difficulties securing or retaining employment," she said.

“There is no ‘quick fix’ to solving the barriers that many people face to secure employment. The approach to solving these issues must be shared and by co-operating and working together we can ensure that we make a real difference.”

The Minister said that traditional barriers to the job market such as poor reading and writing skills still persist in the third millennium. She intends to release a consultation document to address the issue.

Ms Hanna said: "We cannot ignore the implications of low levels of literacy and numeracy for social and economic developments, or the imperative it places on the executive and myself as lead minister to address the problem."

She continued: "Improving literacy and numeracy skills and increasing skills in the fields of information and technology is the cornerstone to helping people participate in, and contribute to, the future success of the Northern Ireland economy.”

The Minister said that since the 1990s unemployment had fallen from 100,000 to less than 50,000 – which was less than the EU average. She added that over 100,000 jobs have been created in the past decade but admitted that there were "pockets" of high unemployment that needed to be removed. Ms Hanna went on to back the use of public private partnerships to improve prospects and address the roots causes of unemployment.

“Through all the intervention measures I have outlined today I want people to understand that their future prosperity is our future prosperity and that social economic and cultural well-being can be achieved in our lifetime,” Ms Hanna said.

(GMcG)