Saturday, 27 June 2009

The Recession and the provision of health and welfare services...

We are living through unprecedented times. The economy is in crisis. A thousand people daily are losing their jobs; up to a half million Irish workers may be on the dole by Christmas. The Government is borrowing huge sums of money just to balance the books. As a country we are living above our means.

Following the April budget, we are going to see both an increase in taxation and savage cuts in public spending. At times like this we have to protect the vulnerable in our society. The Government promises to do that, but what faith do we have that they actually will?

It strikes me that we live in a society where so many things are upside down. We spend billions on the Health Service and Education, far more money than we have ever spent before; yet few people would honestly say things are better than they were. Wastage and unproductive spending are massive problems in the public sector. Ask any nurse, ambulance driver or teacher about the layers of bureaucracy that clog up the service they try to provide. Take a look at the salaries paid to front line workers in health care; compare them to management and administrative salaries, and wonder at the imbalances.

The problem we all face as cuts in public spending bite, is that they will affect the provision of basic services. No matter what the Government tells us, the balance between the providers of services and the administrators will continue to be top heavy. Carers, special-needs assistants, ambulance drivers, nurses, home help; these are the services that must be protected. Yet they, not the office personnel who administer them, will be under the greatest threat as spending cuts take effect. A quick look at the newspapers this week reveals HSE plans to cut 600 acute beds, and recruit three new directors at salaries of €194,000 each. Something seems amiss.

The gap between rich and poor in our society is getting bigger. We must protect the worse off; yet how many people are putting off going to the doctor or the dentist because they can’t afford the fee?

I picked up a hitchhiker yesterday, he told me he’d just come from the dentist. Poor chap had just had two teeth pulled. Assuming the story he told me is true, and I’ve no reason to suppose otherwise, the dentist wanted €3,000 to crown the teeth; but since the patient was on a medical card, all he could do was pull them for free.

One of the best contributors to the health and wealth of our nation is education. Could this valuable resource be better used? Of course it could. Wouldn’t it make sense to include more emphasis on things like good mental and physical health? Are we not missing a major opportunity to improve the health of our nation by teaching our children how to better look after themselves?

Copyright © David Jones, 2009

The Case for a National Maximum Wage

Reading the Draft Action Plan of The Job Seekers Union has got me thinking about the question of the national minimum wage. This in turn has got me wondering: Should we not also be considering the introduction of a national maximum wage?

In recent days, the judiciary have been the latest section of that upper stratum of Irish society called upon to take a pay cut 'in the national interest'. It would seem that they have responded with the same lack of enthusiasm as others occupying a similar rank and station.
  • Why do we pay exceptional salaries for the job of putting people behind bars when the underlying causes of crime are well known and, in some cases at least, could be largely remedied with properly targeted social programmes?
  • Whose ideas was it that people in certain professions ought to paid to live like royalty, while at the same time, it is expected that we should be able to run our healthcare and educational services on a shoestring? Are we really so blind that we cannot see the link between an unhealthy, uneducated population and an unhealthy, uneducated society?
  • If public office is really such a onerous occupation, demanding that elected officials be reimbursed with exceptional levels of both pay and expenses, (a lot of jobs require that you make do with just one or the other) should we not, as a society, demand value for money? Why not make public office a formal qualification. Our universities, colleges and educational establishments are filled with bright minds, who could easily devise a curriculum to educate our modern day Machiavellian princes and princesses, in matters relating to governance and affairs of state.
These are some of the debates I can foresee happening in the future, especially if the current recession proves prolonged. The reason? Because every day there is a growing realisation that Irish society has gotten its priorities drastically wrong.

I speak of Irish society incidentally, because it's the only one that I have significant, first-hand knowledge of. But I do not doubt for one moment that 'we are not alone out there'. Across the water, in Britain a huge public row has broken out about politicians expenses. The recent elections to the EU parliament again raised the question of MEPs expenses and, according to some commentators there is a major scandal there, just waiting to spill over into the public domain.

But the problem with all of this is that, if we're going to play the blame game, we have to start with ourselves. We kind of knew all of this was going on and if we didn't, we should have made it our business to be informed.

So what does all this have to do with the wage structure in our society. Well, everything really! These questions are sometimes posed as moral and ethical dilemmas, part of some kind of equality agenda and to a certain extent they are part of this. But from a wider perspective it really boils down to the fundamental question of whether we have an economy, in the true sense of the word, or just networks of private hoarders.

You could read point six of the JSU's Draft Action Plan and react with a sense of dismay. We fought long and hard to achieve the introduction of a national minimum wage; surely it is the lower paid who need most protection in the current economic climate! But then you have to reflect. You see, in economic terms, wages are relative to buying power. Relativity is the operative word here.

There are actually parts of the world where you could live relatively well on €7 per hour. These are also parts of the world that tend to get much better weather than we do! In fact, if we sat down and analysed it we'd probably wonder why the hell we're still hanging around, why don't we all just blow this joint and move to a more southerly latitude?

Imagine if our jobs (for those of us who still have them) could be re-organised so that we could all work remotely. We could find ourselves sipping margaritas on a beach somewhere, logging on to our laptops a few times a day, or checking text messages, for any pressing issues while debating whether or not to catch the surf before the sun goes down. Would it sicken you further if I said that some people already have that lifestyle? The future is here, it just hasn't been evenly distributed yet!

When we speak of wages, we have to consider the matter not just in overall volume terms, but also from the point of view of what is taken out in the form of taxes, mortgages, rents etc. If you depress the real value of wages, whether by depressing wages themselves or by raising prices, you actually depress the all-round economy. This in turn prolongs a recession, makes it harder to come out of it. Think of it this way. It's not just the working man or woman who is relying on his or her wages to live. The people who supply the wage earner with all the necesssities and creature comforts to live (the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker) are also depending on those same earnings.

This is one of the reasons why the current government got things so badly wrong in recent budgets but you have to ask the question, did the opposition do any better? The economist, David McWilliams, has suggested that the government was really in a position which in chess is referred to as "Zugzwang ... where the victim is left in a position where he has to move, but any move he makes renders him worse off. He has nowhere to hide."

It was a noted Fianna Fáil politician of a previous era, the late Brian Lenihan, father of the current Finance Minister, who famously said, back in the previous recessionary days of the 1980's, that Ireland couldn't sustain it's existing population and that some of us would have to emigrate. But lest anyone think that I'm engaging in one-sided political bashing, it should be said that Brian Lenihan Snr's popularity didn't suffer as a result of making that statement. He actually out-polled Mary Robinson in terms of first preference votes, in the 1990 presidential election that sent her to Áras an Úachtarain, marking a historic milestone as the first female president.

The reality is that, if anything, Ireland is under-populated. On the eve of the Great Famine of 1845-1848, the population of Ireland stood at 8 million. Today, over 160 years later it still has not recovered to anywhere near those levels. Is there anyone out there who would dare take a bet that it still will not have recovered 160 years into the future? That is in the year 2169 or thereabouts?

To be honest, I'm not going to get bogged down in specifics as I don't expect to be alive by then and I further suspect, that everyone alive today will also be dead by then, so it's a safe bet. I'm not going to win anything but I'm not going to lose either. But in a way this sort of illustrates the kind of Keynesian logic that all western governments have been following, more or less, since the end of the Second World War - in the long run everyone is dead! Just hope it doesn't happen sooner rather than later. A lot of people around the globe today are probably asking themselves if that day hasn't come!

The famine of 1845-48 was not the consequence of over-population, except in the sense that the type of economy that was carried on at the time couldn't sustain the numbers. Today it's the same but with a slightly different twist - the size of the population doesn't sustain the type of economy we should be trying to emulate, therefore we have to look abroad, to the export market. The problem for the Irish entrepreneur is that, in most cases, the domestic market is too small. The Irish economy is heavily dependent on foreign markets and foreign direct investment.

But even in the 1840's, the solution had already presented itself - it was called the industrial revolution, an event actually initiated on that other island just across the water and one which, ironically, expatriate Irish labour played a significant role in. Friedrich Engels encountered many of them and recorded their experiences in his work The Condition of the Working Class in England published in Germany in 1845. The working class that he was writing about contained significant numbers of Irish hence, perhaps, the title. Otherwise he might have just called it 'the condition of the English working class.'

It's no use wishing that history turned out differently. Indeed the situation may not all be one of doom and gloom either. In recent years due to an influx of labour, Irish society has had the opportunity to forge new relations with many different parts of the world - Africa, Eastern Europe, the Far East. Surely this must offer prospects for an economic revival?

I've raised a number of questions here and to be honest, at the end of the day, I'm no better informed than the next guy. I suggest however that point six of the Draft Action Plan could be re-formulated. It should read something along the lines of:
A review of the national wage structure to take account of new realities, for the purpose of making the Irish economy more competitive internationally and stimulating local demand. For an economy that serves the needs of the people with social protection as it's primary concern. For a national minimum wage that reflects these aims accompanied by the introduction of a national maximum wage.
To paraphrase Swift you might call this 'a modest proposal'.

Copyright © Oscar Duggan 2009

Monday, 22 June 2009

Getting Us Back to Work

Press Release - 21st June, 2009

For Immediate Publication

The Job Seekers Union Produce Draft Action Plan to Tackle Unemployment

The Job Seekers Union has produced a discussion paper, outlining a series of proposals to stimulate a return to work for the hundreds of thousands of unemployed people in Ireland.

Getting Us Back to Work is the Draft Action Plan based upon which, The Job Seekers Union is inviting interested members of the public to help formulate a comprehensive strategy for dealing with the current economic situation. Once a formal plan of action has been adopted it will be used to make representations to government, employers, social partners and other interest groups.

The 20 point plan identifies a number of key areas including: stimulating the flow of money in the Irish economy; protecting existing jobs and promoting job creation; training for job seekers; issues relating to pay and social welfare; tourism; cross-border activities; environmental issues; establishing a Patriotic Savings Fund.

Says David Jones of The Job Seekers Union: "We feel it important that the final version of the plan, when formulated, represents the widest spectrum of opinion, not just the views of those who happen to be directing the work of The Job Seekers Union at this particular time. That is why we invite everyone to comment and put forward their own proposals, to create a kind of people's charter if you like."

The Draft Action Plan, in its present form, can be read on The Job Seekers Blog. Readers can post their comments, opinions or concerns on the blog or they can e-mail The Job Seekers Union with their views.

A PDF version of the Draft Action Plan can be downloaded here.

Ends

Friday, 19 June 2009

Of the people

On the afternoon of Thursday, November 19th 1863, at the Soldiers Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, President Abraham Lincoln gave an iconic speech; a line of which was to become one of the most quoted phrases in history:
“...that government: of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Almost 150 years later, it might be prudent to ask, do Lincoln’s pillars of democracy hold true in this tiny nation of ours? The answer isn’t the overwhelming yes that it ought to be. Of the people, by the people, for the people; is that how we would describe our present government? Somehow I doubt it.

Ours is no longer a government of the people. Two years ago, Bertie Ahern assembled the present coalition of Fianna Fail, the Progressive Democrats and the Greens. Only 857,000 electors, out of a population of more than 4 million, gave a first preference vote to Fianna Fail in the election of 2007. Although Mary Harney continues in the Cabinet, the Progressive Democrats no longer exist. The people who voted Green did so because they supported a different agenda to the one Fianna Fail had been peddling for years; yet it is their party that keeps Brian Cowan in power. The only test of the Government’s accord with the people was the Lisbon referendum. [Editor's note: This article was written prior to the recent local, European and by elections]. The people voted against the Fianna Fail recommendation. The Government have been cast adrift by the electorate; they have no claim any more to be representative of the people.

Neither is this a government by the people. Brian Cowan was not elected by the people to be Taoiseach. He didn’t lead his party to victory in a general election. He may satisfy the terms of the Constitution but he is an imposter; a pretender to the throne of Ireland. The government has lost touch with the people; it no longer has the public’s confidence. So much has changed since the last election. We are unrecognisable to the nation that went to the polls two years ago. The Government is now pursuing policies undreamt of in 2007. They may claim what they are doing makes economic sense, but they have no mandate to borrow billions of Euros and bring this nation to brink of bankruptcy. Fianna Fail stood on a ticket based around a National Development Plan that promised growth in the economy and improvement in infrastructure. Circumstances have obviously changed; shouldn’t they therefore check back with us to see if we agree with their new strategies?

As for a government for the people? This is now the most unpopular Government in living memory. It doesn’t share the confidence of the people. It remains in office simply because we only hold general elections only once every five years. What justification is that for remaining in power?

If Brian Cowan and his Government colleagues believed in true democracy, they would immediately submit themselves to the will of the people; it is their moral duty to seek election, not to hold on to power for power’s sake.

Therein though lays the problem, and the true nature of what now motivates this Government. Power has an addictive potency that corrupts the minds of even the most decent of men and women. Brian Cowan and the Government will hang on, not because they believe they have the peoples’ mandate, but because they know they don’t have it. We now have a government that is no longer of, by or for the people; it is one that is simply of, by and for itself.

The country is in crisis, the Government should do the right thing and come before the electorate; only then can it claim to be: of the people, by the people, for the people.

Copyright © David Jones, 2009

Thursday, 18 June 2009

SHEIFGAB the World on Friday, 26th June at the Digital Exchange

The Dublin Job Club is organising an event at the Digital Exchange (off Thomas Street, Dublin 8) on Friday, 26th June.

Conor Cunneen an Irishman working with the transition community in Chicago will be in Dublin to present his workshop entitled SHEIFGAB the World: 8 Building Blocks to Successful Transition.

You can read more about it on the blog of the Dublin Job Club ... follow this link

Sunday, 14 June 2009

Draft Action Programme - Getting Us Back to Work

This is a briefing paper prepared by The Job Seekers Union. It calls on the Government to take steps to stimulate a return to work for the hundreds of thousands of unemployed people in Ireland. We welcome people's comments and observations. The purpose of this draft action programme is to stimulate public debate with the view to formulating a more comprehensive strategy at a later stage. We welcome input and advice from all quarters regardless of background or belief. The Draft Action Programme is also available as a PDF download.

The Job Seekers Union is a voluntary organisation established by unemployed people to help themselves survive the unemployment pandemic that is sweeping across Ireland. The primary aim of The Job Seekers Union is to get people back to work.

There are currently over 400,000 people out of work in Ireland. In contrast there are very few vacancies. The reality for most jobless people is they are not going to find work in the current economic environment unless something significant changes.

The Job Seekers Union calls upon the Government to take the following steps:

1. Stimulate the Flow of Money in the Irish Economy:
a. Establish a National Enterprise Fund to create a dynamic lending environment by purchasing a substantial portion of bona fide loans made by the Banks to private sector businesses. This would ensure a constant source of working capital flowing to the Banks for onward lending to business. The effect would be to stimulate business activity and create a positive employment environment. Since this is based on bona fide loans which are repayable, it would not be a cost to the tax payer.

b. Establish a Domestic Debt Consolidation Agency to support re-structuring of personal debt thereby reducing domestic repayments and increasing disposable income. This doesn’t increase the amount of debt in the economy, but merely re-structures it to take advantage of lower interest rates.

c. Establish National Debt Re-Structuring Fund to purchase a substantial proportion of re-structuring loans made by banks to domestic families to ensure Banks have the funding to available to consolidate domestic debt. Since this is based on bona fide loans which are repayable it would not be a cost to the tax payer.

d. Introduce/enforce legislation to ensure business to business debts are paid in a reasonable time (60 days); unpaid debts over a certain period (90 days) to incur penalty interest payable to creditor.

2. Establish a Patriotic Savings Fund and encourage individuals and corporations at home and overseas to invest in Ireland

3. Promote Consumer Spending
a. Introduce positive measures to stimulate domestic spending:
i. Reduce VAT rate to 17.5% to level the price playing field across the Island of Ireland
ii. Aggressively market the concept of ‘patriotic consumerism’ to encourage spending in the Domestic market and on Irish produce
b. Introduce legislation to allow private tenants to renegotiate leases and take advantage of reduced rent levels. This would increase the disposable income of tenant households.
c. Encourage Public Sector to help stimulate economic activity through patriotic purchasing
d. Introduce a Home Improvement Grant scheme to stimulate the building sector
e. Establish a National Scrappage Assistance scheme for capital, white and brown goods to stimulate economic activity through replacement with environmentally friendly products

4. Protect existing jobs and promote job retention:
a. Abolish 60% employer redundancy rebate which is currently compensating/encouraging employers to make staff redundant
b. Introduce legislation to allow for wage re-structuring. In this way employers and employees could agree to replace a proportion of ‘Fixed cost wages’ with an equivalent productivity payment or equity participation. Support this with a Wage Re-structuring Grant that rewards employers and employees for improvements in productivity performance.

5. Promote Job Creation:
a. Support private sector organisations wanting to increase their work force by grant assisting salaries/wages for first 12 months for created new jobs.
b. Give income tax relief for bona fide expenditure on domestic services such as cleaning, gardening, child minding and so on
c. Reduce the Back-to-Work qualifying period 6 months on Job Seekers Benefit/Allowance. Continue benefit support for a Back to Work period of 24 months to allow new self employed people to establish themselves.
d. Introduce legislation to allow business tenants to renegotiate leases and take advantage of reducing rent levels and thereby reduce overall cost.

6. Reduce minimum wage to €7.00 to improve Irish competitiveness and encourage job retention/creation

7. Replace standard Job Seekers Benefit/Allowance with a Tiered Payment Plan that encourages participation in ‘Good For The Country Activities’ such as self employment, community employment schemes, training, and voluntary work.
a. Start basic payment at €100 per week; bring it up to €200 for participation in ‘Good For The Country Activities’.

8. Strengthen the concept of Local Community:
a. Promote local community activities; encourage people to get involved:
i. Garda Reserve/Neighbourhood Watch
ii. Sports and Social Clubs
iii. Neighbourliness

9. Establish of a new Community Employment Board:
a. Set up Job Clubs/Networks in every town across the country
b. Identify local community based projects capable of getting people back to work locally
c. Set up local Community Co-operatives to undertake the local projects identified above and offer local employment to people
d. Pay people working on the Community Co-operative schemes 50% premium above standard Job Seekers benefits

10. Increase Capital Spending to stimulate economic activity:
a. Accelerate school building programme, improvements in transport infrastructure, improvements to communications infrastructure
b. Divide public tenders into smaller tranches to allow Irish domestic businesses to win them
c. Encourage Bartering as a non-cash way of increasing economic activity

11. Encourage innovation
a. Establish Enterprise Centres across the Country to offer free start-up advice, serviced office and workshop facilities.
b. Relax legislation, bureaucracy and red tape to allow people to start home industries such as baking, back-yarding, jam making, sandwich preparation, sewing, car maintenance and so on.
c. Encourage Banks to provide zero interest Start-Up Loans to individuals to set up small businesses including self-employment and help contribute to the investment cost of premises, equipment, transport, furniture and other tools. Include these loans within the gambit of the National Enterprise Fund above.

12. Encourage re-training, higher level education:
a. Introduce a Re-Training/Education Allowance as an additional payment to encourage Job Seekers to pursue training. Introduce a once-off Qualification Payment for successful completion of a training programme.
b. Encourage participation in Sales and Customer Service Training to promote overall economic activity and stimulate a service led recovery.

13. Establish a National Volunteer Scheme and pay additional benefits to encourage participation in do-good activities at the national and community level

14. Sell Ireland overseas:
a. Develop an ‘Irish’ brand identity
b. Tidy up the Country, promote Ireland as the Clean and Green part of Europe
c. Introduce Grants to encourage investment in tourism
d. Target the Irish Diaspora

15. Encourage inwards tourism
a. Abolish Airport Taxes for non-residents
b. Reduce employers PRSI on inward tourism and domestic tourism activities
c. Reduce employers PRSI on export oriented activities

16. Balance Economic Activity Across the Regions

17. Promote the concept of the ‘Island of Ireland’ and encourage cross border activities

18. Stimulate Green Economy
a. Establish ‘Green Grant’ scheme to encourage and support, and give a fiscal advantage to all environment friendly and energy efficient activities
b. Introduce heavy penalties for pollution, litter and environmental damage

19. Invest in and Promote Public Transport; encourage private enterprise to provide public transport
a. Establish a National Transport Board to consolidate all public transport activity
b. Establish a Dublin Transport Authority to consolidate all public transport in Dublin
c. Encourage Car Free areas in our cities and major towns

20. Extend recycling activities to encourage economic activity and support the National Scrappage Scheme

Copyright © The Job Seekers Union, 2009

Getting out of this economic mess...

David Jones argues that the only way out of this recession is to cut cost and sell, sell, sell...

We are living in dangerous times; this recession is going to be a very deep one. There will be many serious casualties along the way. There may also be fatalities; if we are not careful Ireland Inc. may be one of them.

That Ireland is in crisis is undeniable. We are a small country. We presently have about 1.2 million workers and 350,000 unemployed. By the end of this year we might only have 1 million at work and half million on the dole. Of the million at work, a third will be employed in the public sector. In simple terms that means there could be more people being paid by the public purse, than there are people working in the private sector.

That’s a completely unsustainable ratio. The tax burden on the private sector will be too high. The country wouldn’t be able to afford to pay the bill for the public sector and the unemployed. Something will have to give.

Ireland needs to borrow an extra €23 billion this year; that’s €23 thousand million euro. And that’s on top of the €51 billion we’d borrowed at the end of 2008. Estimates suggest by 2012 Ireland will need to have borrowed €111 thousand million (€111 billion). That works out at more than a hundred thousand euro per worker.

It wouldn’t be so bad if that money was being borrowed to finance capital projects like power stations, railways, hospitals, roads, schools and so on. That would make sense; it would be like taking out a mortgage to buy a house. Unfortunately, that’s not why we’re borrowing so much money. We’re doing it to fund day to day costs like public sector wages and unemployment benefits. That’s like a family constantly buying all their groceries and clothes with borrowed money. They’d be living above their means; they wouldn’t be able to do it for very long.

Unfortunately Ireland Inc. is in the same boat; it’s borrowing to keep itself afloat. It won’t be able to do that for ever. Eventually it will have to pay the loans back. How is it going to do that? The nation’s current income is insufficient to meet its current outgoings; so where is the money going to come from to pay back the debts?

The answer is nobody knows. The Government has its head in the sand; it’s just keeping its fingers crossed, hoping things will improve. The reality is, unless something fundamental changes, the situation is unlikely to get any better.

The problem for Ireland is simple; we don’t export enough. The way a country generates income is to sell its goods and services to other countries. Unfortunately we don’t sell enough Irish products and services overseas to generate sufficient income to sustain our lifestyle. Unless we do something to correct this problem, we really have no financial future. If we keep spending above our means, we will eventually go bust. It has happened to other countries; there is no reason why it won’t happen to us too.

If Ireland goes bust, then the management of our economy will be taken out of our hands and be in the control of the EU or the IMF. They will then take a ruthless approach to balancing the books by drastically decreasing government spending (including welfare expenditure) and significantly increasing taxes. It wouldn’t be pleasant; we really should do everything we can to prevent it.

The first thing we have to do is reduce government spending; that means cutting out all waste and unnecessary expenditure. It means reducing the public sector wage bill either by job losses or wage reduction. It also means cutting welfare costs; that’s right benefits will have to be reduced. That might sound drastic; it is, but it’s also essential.

The next thing we have to do is make the country competitive; that means reducing the minimum wage, pruning back high salaries, cutting back on perks, working longer hours, taking less holidays and getting rid of all restrictive practices. Again that may seem harsh; but unless we can compete with Eastern Europe, the Far East, India and China, there really is no future for us.

If everybody in Ireland took a 30% reduction in their income, then prices would drop and the reality would be we’d all be no worse off. Food would be cheaper, clothes would be cheaper, eating out would be cheaper. Although we would have less income, everything we buy would cost less. We wouldn’t be able to take as many foreign holidays though, but that’s a good thing because holidaying overseas means we remove money from the Irish economy. Staying in Ireland for your holiday is much because we keep the money circulating here. Servicing mortgages and debts would be an issue if we had less income, but given the very low level of interest rates it wouldn’t be so much of a problem.

The real benefit is Ireland would become a lower cost economy. We’d be more attractive to tourists, and would attract more foreign companies to invest here. We’d also be able to sell more of our agricultural and food products overseas; we might even be able rebuild our manufacturing sector and export furniture, cut glass, electronics and so on.

Western governments’ preferred policy is to borrow huge sums of money in a bid to re-flate the world economy. I’m not sure that‘s the right thing to be doing. I certainly don’t think it would be right for Ireland. I’m convinced the only way we can survive as a nation is to sell our way out of the problem we’re in. To do that we have to make ourselves competitive again; and the only way we can do that is cut our costs. It means every single one of use will have to make sacrifices; our living standards will have to fall. In the short term it will be painful; but in the long term it will be worth it.

If we don’t bite the bullet now and cut our cloth accordingly, the alternative will be infinitely worse.

Copyright © David Jones, 2009

Thursday, 11 June 2009

Do you want the good news or the bad news?

David Jones takes a tongue in cheek look at what the future might hold for Ireland...

The year is 2015. The Government has called a press conference so the Tánaiste can announce the creation of a new job. The media are gathered in their hundreds; their notebooks and cameras primed and ready. The public wait in eager anticipation; enthusiastic crowds cluster around TV sets all across the country.

A new job! Nothing like this has happened in years.
The Tánaiste clears her throat.

“We are pleased,” she begins excitedly; “To be able to announce the success of our newest initiative to generate employment.”

“Working closely with my colleagues, the Minister of Finance, The Minister of Labour, The Minister of Arts & Culture, The Minister of Education and the Office of Public Works,” she continues breathlessly; “The Government, working through the auspices of FAS, Enterprise Ireland and the IDA; with the help of our colleagues in the European Union through the History of Ireland Initiative Fund; and with the generous support of the IMF, the World Bank and the United Nations.”

She pauses, deliberately playing to the gallery of assembled journalists, stoking the tension of the crowds of TV viewers patiently waiting to see if the rumour going around the social networking sites really is true. The tension in the country is audible.

“This new initiative, that the Government started 5 years ago, has now become a reality. It is the summation of years of dedication and hard work by each and every member of the Cabinet. It is a direct tribute to the personal involvement of the Taoiseach himself. It is the flagship of the Government’s strategic philosophy to both preserve the past and at the same time look towards the future.”

The media shuffle in their seats. The Tánaiste knows the time is right for the coup de grace.

“I am pleased to declare the National Museum of Jobs open,” the Tánaiste announces. She cuts a red ribbon, and giant velvet curtains open to reveal a huge photograph of a building somewhere in Co Meath that was originally designed to be a prison.

The audience of hacks and snappers clap politely. This isn’t the big news they’ve come to hear. They wait patiently for the Tánaiste to resume her announcement.

“I am also delighted,” she reads from her prepared speech. Her voice is strong; this is her moment; “To be able to tell that you that a Curator is required for this new Museum.”
A buzz of excitement sweeps around the Press Room.

“That’s right,” she continues, raising her arms in triumph; “We have created a new position; a new position that anyone with the relevant experience can apply for.”

So the rumour was true. The Government really had created a new job. This was indeed a joyous day. The TV viewers across the country leapt from their seats in ecstasy. There is spontaneous public acclaim and celebration at the news. Citizens are dancing in the streets, hugging family, friends and complete strangers.

A new job! Nothing like this has happened in years.

All the journalists, except one, scribble away on their notebooks; cameras flash. The Tánaiste poses and smiles; she’s lapping up the sense of joy and jubilation that she knows is spreading across the country. The next election should be a doddle now.

The journalist who hadn’t started scribbling raises his hand to ask a question. “What relevant experience is needed to apply for this job?”he enquires.

“Applicant’s will need to have had a full year’s continuous work experience in any job in the last 3 years,” the Tánaiste explains.

The silence in the Press Room is deafening. The crowds across the country stop celebrating.
“What did you say?” the journalist asks; his pencil ready to scribble down the Tánaiste’s answer word for word.

“A full year’s continuous work experience in any job in the last 3 years,” the Tánaiste repeated the experience required for this new position.

Sadly, despite millions of Euros of public investment and masses of publicity, the Museum of Jobs never opened its doors to the public. No-one with the relevant experience came forward for the new position of Curator.

Copyright © David Jones 2009

A bit of humour for the JSU

A man walks onto a building site and asks to see the foreman.

"Are you looking for work?" asks the foreman.

"No," answered the man; "But I wouldn't mind a job."

5 Top Tips To Help You Prepare For Interview

Well Done!

You have managed to secure an interview which a great achievement in the current market.

So What Is Next?

Well, it really is the key to success at any interview .........

PREPARATION!

Don't let yourself down at this stage,take the time and prepare.


1) Make Sure You Have The Job Specification.

The Job Specification is a vital piece of information. It will provide you with a summary of the organisation & the duties involved in the role. Most importantly the Person Specification section will outline the skills or competencies the employer requires from a successful applicant. Once you have read the role profile in detail, identified the skills or competencies the employer is looking for, you can then prepare your answers accordingly.

2) Research.

Research the company, their mission, goals, values, products & services. Begin with their website for this basic information. If you want to really stand out research the company in more detail:

  • What's happening in their industry

  • Their competitors

  • New product or services they may have announced lately

  • Be aware of any recent up-dates in the media about the organisation

  • Look for any recent articles about the company.

3) Know Your C.V Inside Out

It sounds so simple but you would be amazed at the number of people who don't really know what's in their own C.V. Make sure you know your C.V inside out. For example exact dates of employment/education, if there are any significant gaps in your C.V then be prepared to answer questions around these.

4) Prepare Your Answers

Prepare your answers in relation to possible questions that may arise. Look at the role profile and requirements for the job to help you identify which area's the interviewer may focus on. For example, if 'Customer Focus' is a skill or competency mentioned in the person specification then be prepared to answer a question in relation to this.

A sample question: the interviewer may ask you: 'What has been the most challenging customer service issue you’ve had to address?'

You will be surprised how you can tailor the general answers you had prepared, to the specific questions you are being asked, based on the information the interviewer provides you with at the time. When you are in the interview, listen carefully to the information the interviewer is giving you about the role and the company, this will help you with you answers.

5) Prepare The Questions You Want To Ask

Remember the interview is a two way process. It is also your opportunity to find out if the company is right for you. So don't be afraid to ask questions. A candidate will always receive a positive reaction from an interviewer when they have some well thought out questions to ask about the role and the organisation. It show you are genuinely interested in the role and also that you have thought carefully about the opportunity on offer.

Some sample questions

  • Can you tell me more about the structure of the organisation/team?

  • What are the skills that you consider important for this job?

  • Do you have any questions or concerns about my ability to perform this job?

Remember - Unless the interviewer brings it up, avoid asking questions about salary or holidays as these can be seen as a negative.

Copyright © Rebecca Kearney 2009. All rights reserved.

For further information visit www.readysteadyinterview.ie

Ph: 01 4410902 / 087 2996522

Next Meeting at the Digital Exchange - 10am, Friday 12th June

After the success of last Friday's meeting jointly hosted by The Job Seekers Union and the Dublin Job Club, it has been decided to make these a weekly event for the time being.

Anyone who wants to come along tomorrow (11th June and every Friday thereafter) to Digital Exchange, Crane Street (off Thomas Street) Dublin is most welcome and if you want to bring friend, the more the merrier.

The meeting starts at 10am and you should aim to arrive early, otherwise you'll miss it.

The purpose of the meeting is to help job seekers stay focused and keep motivated. Helpful advice is on hand from people with experience in the field of recruitment, HR etc.

Wednesday, 10 June 2009

Time to Get the Country Back to Work

Press Release - 8th June, 2009

For Immediate Publication

Time to Get the Country Back to Work
- Statement by The Job Seekers Union

"Joblessness and the economy must remain top of the political agenda, irrespective of the outcome of the latest local, European and by elections and regardless of who wins or loses".

This is the message coming from The Job Seekers Union, a new organisation set up to help the unemployed come together, to help themselves survive the global economic recession. Speaking in the aftermath of the weekend elections, founder of The Job Seekers Union, David Jones had this to say:

"The headlines might be all about the elections; the landslide that is George Lee and Fianna Fail’s bloody nose but let us not forget the other big story - over 400,000 people on the dole. This is a human tragedy that’s gets worse every month. Regardless of who is in power, this is the issue that will have to be addressed. Joblessness affects people's livelihood. People from all walks of life are affected. It makes no difference who you are."

The Job Seekers Union is a new organisation of job seekers and the unemployed who are organising to fight back against the economic ravages. "All over the country we see examples of people who are not taking the current situation lying down" says David Jones, "they are starting their own businesses, building networks, organising jobs clubs. The Job Seekers Union is providing organisational support for these initiatives, but it also intends to lobby for a positive approach towards job creation."

The Job Seekers Union, which wants to build a movement for change in the society and the economy upon which it is based, has just announced the launch of a membership drive. Members of the public are invited to join The Job Seekers Union by visiting their website where they can enrol. Membership is free, participation is voluntary and you don't have to be unemployed to join.

Members of The Job Seekers Union can keep up to date with news and developments and also receive practical advice on matters such as coping with unemployment, re-skilling, CV and interview preparation, finding a job etc. All of this and more can be found on their website - www.TheJobSeekersUnion.com.

Ends

Enthusiastic Gathering at the Digital Exchange

About twenty or so people turned up at the Digital Exchange in Dublin city centre on Friday, 5th June for a meeting organised by The Job Seekers Union and the Dublin Job Club.

The theme of the meeting was motivation and staying focused when 'between jobs'. It was chaired by Aaron Downes of the Dublin Job Club who opened by explaining the concept behind a job club, how it works and where the idea came from originally. It is basically to provide support networks for people who have recently been made redundant. You can read more in an interview which Aaron gave to the Recruit Ireland blog recently.

The meeting was a casual, informal affair. Everyone in attendance was given the opportunity to introduce themselves, describe their background, career prospects and expectations. The format also allowed people to recount experiences of the jobs market today, the kind of obstacles encountered etc. The issues raised were then dealt with in the context of a group discussion.

Before the meeting broke up, time was allocated for participants to speak to the professional advisers who are were in attendance, to have their CVs critiqued, get advice about interview preparation etc.

It is intended that these meetings will become a regular event and anyone who didn't make it is welcome to come along this Friday, 12th June at the same venue - Digital Exchange, Crane Street (off Thomas Street) Dublin. Meetings start at 10am and run till 1pm. Get there early or you'll miss it. We will keep you informed and you can also check out the Dublin Job Club's blog for upcoming events of a similar nature.

We understand that a number of you live outside the Dublin area and therefore find it difficult to attend meetings held in the city centre. One suggestion might be to form Job Clubs in your own area. There really isn't that much organisation involved but if you would like to learn more about the idea, the Dublin Job Club is on hand to give advice. You can contact them via their blog.

Tuesday, 9 June 2009

Eight out Ten (Unemployed) Cats...

David Jones wonders what it is the unemployed most miss about working.

It might seem like a stupid question, but what do people miss most when they’ve no job?

The obvious answer is money. The average annual wage in Ireland is €32,000 before tax. After tax that gives a take home pay of about €480 a week. The dole on the other hand is €204. Losing your job therefore costs the average single man or woman about €276 each week. That’s means they are €14,352 worse off in a full year. That’s a considerable sum of money by anyone’s standards. It certainly puts a dent in holiday plans, socialising, and buying things like cars, furniture and so on.

The minimum wage in Ireland is currently €8.65 an hour. After tax that works out at about €7.40 for a single worker. Based on a 39 hour week, the dole works out at €5.23 an hour. A single unemployed person is therefore €2.17 an hour worse off than if he or she was working for the minimum wage. So if you’re single and unemployed, you’re €85 worse off each week compared to what you would be if you were working for the minimum wage.

Put another way around, the minimum wager’s real pay for getting up every morning and going to work is €2.17 an hour. At the end of a hard week’s work, he or she prospers to the tune of just €84 compared to staying at home and watching TV. Not much of an incentive really is it?

Of course, for higher earners things are very different. Life on the dole can represent a dramatic, and traumatic, decline in living standards. People may be forced to move house, sell the car, take the children out of school or college, or downsize in whatever way they see fit.

Apart from money, what else do the unemployed most miss? Company is the obvious answer. You’re at work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. If you stop to think about it, you probably spend more time with your work mates than you do with your family. It’s a big wrench to suddenly find yourself home on your own.

Being unemployed can be a lonely and boring experience. Having time on your hands is all very well if you’ve lots of things to do and people to share it with. But what if you’ve neither? What do you do all day if your partner’s at work, if the kids are at school, if most of your friends are working? What about all the unemployed people who are living alone, or those living in rural areas? What do they do? No wonder depression is such a common problem amongst the jobless.

The winters are harder, of course. Cold, wet, miserable days are ten times worse when you’re on your own. Keeping warm is also expensive. Life on the dole is definitely far better in the summer; there’s a million more things to do when the sun shines.

It’s also often said that being without a job isn’t half so bad at weekends when most people are at home, as it is during the week. It’s during the week days that are worse. It’s as though your psyche doesn’t expect you to be at work on a Saturday or Sunday; but it’s really hard Monday to Friday. It’s when everyone else is at work that you really miss it.

There are other things too that you miss about not being at work. Depending on the type of job you had, people claim to miss mental stimulation, challenge, travel, even physical activity. We might moan about our jobs when we have them, but job interest really is a big positive feature in most of our lives. It’s certainly something we miss when it’s taken away from us.

A sense of purpose and a sense of self-worth are the other things most commonly missed. For most of us, our job defines who we are. One of the first questions we ask when we meet somebody new is, ‘What do you do?’ To some extent the answer dictates our standing in society. “I’m a pilot, a teacher, a nurse, a banker, a bookkeeper, a lorry driver, a chef or a builder seems so much better than “I’m unemployed”. Being without work has traditionally cast us as a second class citizen. It’s a stigma that still associated with being unemployed.

What else do you miss about having no job? The company car, access to the internet, the odd free phone call, the office canteen, flirting with the opposite sex, Friday night in the pub, the craic, the gossip, the jokes, the Christmas party?

I don’t know if it’s still the case, but it certainly was true once that most romances began at work. Certainly a lot of illicit affairs also happen between work colleagues. What’s going to happen now more and more of us are on the dole queue? Somehow I don’t see us meeting our future partner across a crowded Social Welfare or FAS office, but maybe I’m wrong.

Apart from money, socialising and self esteem are the big losers if you’re unlucky enough to become unemployed. I don’t think TV and radio programmers have yet realised there’s a new breed of unemployed people now staying at home. The new unemployed want a different sort of progamme to the traditional nonsense that fills the schedules from 9am to 5pm. Maybe that’s why the internet is taking over more and more of our leisure time?

That’s certainly food for thought for daytime TV and radio producers. They’d better wise up fast before they, like the rest of us, join the ever lengthening dole queues.

Copyright © David Jones 2009

Friday, 5 June 2009

Meeting of The Job Seekers Union and Dublin Job Club

Note for your Diary - Friday, 5th June, 10am

The Job Seekers Union and the Dublin Job Club have joined forces and organised a meeting this Friday morning 10am - 1pm, 5th June in the Digital Exchange, Crane Street (off Thomas Street) Dublin.

The meeting will focus on motivating job seekers and on CV preparation - a CV doctor will talk about preparing effective CVs.

Everyone is welcome and can bring friends. Admission is free. Members and friends are encouraged to attend as we hope this will the first of many meetings in Dublin and around the country.

Further details will follow.

Thursday, 4 June 2009

We Need People to Put up Posters

One of our members, Eva Grundy, is a graphic design professional and has kindly produced two new posters, to help publicise The Job Seekers Union to a wider public audience.

If you feel you could help, by displaying them up at your local post office, job centre, social welfare office, library etc (do ask permission first!) the posters can be downloaded here in a printable format that includes a colour and a black and white version.

Economic mis-measurement

David Jones takes a look at the way Governments adapt figures to make things look better than they really are...

I have to keep reminding you that I know very little about economics. My opinions don’t matter much. If we didn’t live in a free society, I probably wouldn’t be allowed to have them; I certainly wouldn’t be allowed to publish them. Thank god for free speech; how else would you get to hear alternative opinions?

When I was a lad at school, we were told about things called primary industries. These were things like agriculture, mining, shipbuilding, power generation, construction, engineering and manufacturing. These industries were the backbone of the nation; they created its wealth.

We also learned of something called output. In simple term this was the total value of all the primary industries added together. Put another way around it was the total of everything a country made. The other benchmark we learned about was called the Balance of Payments. This was the difference between what a country sold (its exports) and what it bought (its imports). A positive Balance of Payments meant a country was paying its way; a negative Balance of Payments meant the country had to borrow to keep things going.

America, Germany and Britain used to be the powerhouses of the world economy. That was until somebody invented Globalisation. The simple idea behind Globalisation is to move jobs to where they are the cheapest. As a result millions upon millions of jobs have been lost in the West and transferred to China, India and the Far East. The net result is production in the West has fallen, and Balance of Payments of Western economies is in the red.

Our politicians don’t want us to know about these things, so they stopped concentrating on Balance of Payments as a measure of economic success. Instead they now focus on a new measurement called GNP (Gross National Product). GNP includes all economic activities, primary industries and services carried out by Irish businesses all over the world. It’s been growing, because the service and public sectors have been expanding. So the Government is able to claim the economy is growing, even though the West isn’t making anything anymore.

Confused? Don’t be, the difference between real output and GNP is easy to understand. Let’s imagine an average family; father and mother, a grown up son and two children still at school. Dad works full time, Mum works part-time; the grown up son works overseas, the two younger children are still at school and don’t work. The family’s true output is Dad’s and Mum’s income; it’s the amount of money the family brings in from outside. Their GNP on the other hand includes Dad and Mum’s income earned in Ireland, plus the grown up son’s income earned overseas, plus everything they do for each other. Since Dad and Mum are authority figures, we can liken what they do for the children as similar to the public sector. Dad does for Mum, what Mum does for Dad, what the kids do to help their parents or do for each other, is similar to the services sector. So, Dad taking the kids to school, Mum cooking dinner, the kids mowing the lawn and so on and so on, all contribute to the family’s GNP in the same way that the public sector and service sector contribute to the country’s GNP. What the grown up son earns is like overseas investment. It too is included in the family’s GNP, even though he doesn’t send it home to the family.

If Mum loses her job, the money coming into the family goes down; but the family’s GNP can still go up if the grown up son’s salary increases, and Mum spends the time she has on her hands doing things around the home. If she gets busy redecorating the house, sorting out the garden, cooking home-made meals for the freezer and so on, the GNP method would say the family is better off, even though they don’t have Mum’s money any more, nor do they have the grown up son’s increase in salary.

Nuts isn’t it? The family has less money to spend; and yet the GNP figure would suggest they are wealthier than they were.

That’s how it works in the overall economy. The jobs we do for each other are services. They’ve been on the increase over the last few years; that’s why we’ve all been busy. We haven’t been selling Irish goods overseas; we’ve been working busy working for each other. The problem now is that the services sector, as well as all the other sectors, is in decline. The result is economic disaster.

The real problem is, because we don’t make anything anymore, we have nothing to sell to other countries and no money coming in to the country. That in turn means we have to borrow more and more; and you’ve guessed it, we don’t have enough money coming in to pay these loans back.

What a way to run a country?

Copyright © David Jones 2009

Tuesday, 2 June 2009

Cometh the hour, cometh the man...

History is full of great men arriving at times of crisis; Churchill, de Valera, Roosevelt, Ghandi, Mandela. Statesmen who are immortalised by the leadership they brought at watershed moments in their nation’s history.

Ireland stands today, at such a watershed moment. Our economy is on the brink of collapse; civil unrest could become a real possibility if things don’t improve. Every passing day seems to bring worse and worse news. We seem to be stumbling from one crisis to the next; our leaders openly acknowledge they don’t really know the extent of our problems.

We’re a small country, 4 million people or thereabouts. By the end of the year up to half a million of us could be without work. That’s unprecedented in modern times. The Government is borrowing billions of Euros; not to invest in rebuilding the country, but simply to balance the books. That we are living way above our means is indisputable.

A ‘budget’ is due next week. It is expected to include savage cuts in Government spending and a significant increase in taxation.

What happens if the ‘budget’ doesn’t work? What if things don’t improve? Supposing things get worse? What then?

We have to be realistic; things are going to be tough. We’re in for a rough time; maybe a very rough time. There will be setbacks, changes in direction, moments of crisis that will really test the mettle of the Government and the nation.

At times like this, we need leadership. A leader is someone who can inspire us, who can pull us through the hard times; someone who knows where they are going, who has a goal, an objective. A leader is also someone we can believe in, someone we trust and support; someone we will follow, no matter what.

Therein lies our problem; we don’t have that leader. We have a Government and a Taoiseach that are hopelessly unpopular. Public confidence in our leaders is at an all time low. Whether the two Brians and the rest of the cabinet have the capability to solve our problems, or not, is irrelevant. What matters is they don’t have our confidence.

Whether it is a general leading his troops into battle, a captain leading his team on the pitch, or a Prime Minister leading his country at a time of crisis; to succeed in any campaign, the leader must command both authority and respect. The troops, the players, the country must have faith and confidence in their leader. If they don’t then he has to go. It’s as simple as that.

We have a Taoiseach who got there by default. He has no mandate to lead the country in the way he would have if he led his party to victory in a general election. We have a Government we have no faith in.

At moments of crisis thoughout history, populations have demonstrated a willingness to accept significant sacrifice for the common cause. What we need now is a ‘crisis government’, one that can lead us out of the storm. To succeed, such a government must have public opinion on its side. If it is unable to inspire public confidence, the crisis will become a disaster.

It is ironic to hear the clamour for the boards of the banks to resign. They created the banking crisis, so the argument goes, how can they be trusted to solve it. So too the Government. Fianna Fail has been in government for 12 years. Brian Cowan has been a minister for most of that time. He was Finance Minister before he became Taoiseach.

President Obama was elected on a mandate of change. It is time now for change in Ireland. We urgently need a leader we can believe in. We need a Churchill; we need a new De Valera.

Step aside Mr Cowan; it’s time for a new man and a new Government to lead Ireland now.

Copyright © David Jones 2009

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