Day 31

Day 31 is an odd milestone to start an account of something. I signed on for Jobseeker's Allowance on Friday the 1st of February, 2013, four weeks and three days ago. Today, Sunday the 3rd of March, is day 31. I could have started writing about it straight away, but I hadn't really settled in to the role. Honestly, I'm setting an 80 day time-margin to sign off the dole because it works well  as a title for a blog, but ideally, I'd like to get a job a bit sooner - the longer you're out of the game, the harder it is to get back in.

This is not the first time I've signed on, but it is the first time that I have done so without any clear idea of what was next. The previous occasion, I had finished a stint working overseas, and was starting a master's course the following month. Now, I've finished an internship in the same subject area as the master's, and am trying to work out my next step. Stay in Ireland, and try and get something consistent while paying off the debt worked up during university, or try to get a position abroad somewhere? I think it's not an uncommon predicament for young people in Ireland.

There seems to be quite a consensus in Ireland at the moment that there are very few jobs going for recent graduates, or for young people in general, and that the main options for these people are either to emigrate or to claim welfare payments for seemingly endless periods of time. While the unemployment figures are relatively high, and the numbers leaving likewise, I'm sceptical of this view, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, the generation of young people in Ireland is one of the best educated cohorts ever. Yes, there are early school-leavers as with any society, but the accessibility of education in Ireland is world-class, and this has definitely been a factor in the investment by foreign organisations and companies in Ireland, albeit aided by an enticing corporate tax rate. So even recently, with hikes in dubious 'registration' fees charged by third level institutes hindering the accessibility for some, the massive turnout of a well-educated graduate cohort seeking employment is a major incentive for companies and organisations to conduct business in the country. And they are still arriving.

Secondly, the narrative of 'hard times' dominates the collective concious of Ireland, making inactivity or stagnation the norm. This has consequences for everyone in many aspects of everyday life, but no area more so for young people than in employment. There are of course the ramifications of the global economic downturn for employers, resulting in the loss of employment for many, purely because of the lack of expenditure available to these employers. But the narrative of hard times has meant that cessation of employment, or reduction in numbers recruited, has become an easy strategy to reduce expenses for companies and organisations that previously may have been less inclined to resort to these options. In practice, this doesn't mean there are any more jobs out there, but workers and their unions are more accepting of cuts and forced redundancies because the environment would suggest that it's the done thing. Similarly on the employee end, whereas prior to the downturn it was perhaps less socially acceptable to claim unemployment benefit for extended periods, nowadays being on the dole is a product of the times in which we live, and the social pressure to rapidly seek new employment is not absent, but certainly less present. There remains the same financial pressure of course, particularly for the generation before, those who may have invested in property or started a family, but for those without any major financial commitments, €180-odd a week isn't too bad. I'm not sure I have the gumption to call this an incentive to be unemployed, but it is hardly conducive to filling the gaps in the workforce.

Finally, a point that I think stems from the first two. Partly given the highly-qualified position of the generation coming onto the jobs market, partly because of the limitless aspirations of the Celtic Tiger mindset, an attitude of finding 'a job' has become finding 'the ideal job'. This is really the first generation that have been told from the get-go that they can do anything they please with their lives. So why do something you dislike, when you can bide your time until the perfect job falls into your lap? This is not necessarily a bad thing, but when things are the way they are economically, not everybody gets to do something they love for a living. There are jobs out there in Ireland. Good jobs, that may not be the best-paid, or be the most direct path to the top, or even sound impressive or interesting. But they are there, and for a large portion of the population, they are good enough or better, but for many of those who are unemployed, these roles, although many of them respectable jobs and careers, just don't cut it, and so are dismissed.

These are just some things that have struck me about the jobs market of late in Ireland. Obviously there are multiple other factors at play, but these, I think, are the ones that don't tend to be spoken about.