Ireland seems to have hit as close to full employment as possible as rates stay constant from May to June of 2019. Full employment is a condition of the economy in which every person who is currently able to work and is seeking employment is employed.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) recently released their monthly unemployment report which included details in regards to the changes that have occurred month to month in 2019, as well as a comparison between June 2018 and 2019 statistics. According to these comparisons, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate from May to June 2019 has stayed at a constant 4.5pc unemployed. On a yearly basis, there has been a significant decrease of 1.4pc; June 2018 was at 5.9pc while June 2019 is at 4.5pc.
This percentage change shows a significant change in the amount of seasonally adjusted number of persons unemployed from 140,200 people in 2018 to 109,700 in 2019, which is a 30,500 person decrease. There are many reasons for a decrease in unemployment including immigration and emigration or businesses and people, the creation of new jobs, or just general economic well being and expansion.
Although these continued aspects show promise for the future, they are not immune to changes that are likely to occur within the upcoming year. As Brexit looms, many economists have begun to make predictions on how this change to the European Union will affect the UK and the EU economies.
This change in likely to affect every country in the EU, but Ireland is significantly more susceptible to experiencing the negative side effects due to heavy collaboration with the UK. Many jobs that were created by companies soon to be located in the UK, and therefore outside of the EU, may need to leave Ireland if they are unable to get permission to continue operation in a third-country format.
Although this seems to be more plausible, there is another scenario that has yet to have fully been discussed. Brexit is likely going to cause some companies who have invested in Ireland to leave, but the companies that stay will likely invest more in the economy and job market than before. This is the case for the UK based company Ecclesiastical, who has already filed for and received the ability to continue operation in Ireland after Brexit as a third-country branch.
If enough companies decide to commit to this approach, the employment and general economic gap can theoretically be filled by the growing commitment of company branches to operation in Ireland.
Overall, the outcomes are uncertain but there are many ways of interpreting the possibilities of Brexit and its impact on the Irish unemployment statistics.
