Irish Urge Children to Leave Amid Job Losses

[xchrom]

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’

[fasttense]

1. Austerity = depressed economy

The real problem with austerity is that it only applies to some of the people. The uber rich don't participate.

Austerity for the workers and luxury for the rich is what it's all about.

[marmar]

2. That's just sad.

But where are they going to go?

[xchrom]

3. Because they're EU - they have 'easier' emigration rules

Than say we do.

But it can't be easy in any event.

[zipplewrath]

4. It's the norm

I've been to Ireland many times, and over much of the country. One thing that always struck me was how much the families and really people of all ages tended to socialize together. A few of the irish mentioned that you grow up expecting to have to leave some day. It tends to make you look upon your time with friends and familiy a bit different. It's become ingrained in the culture in many ways. Staying is the exception, leaving is the norm.

Irish traditional music is repleat with songs about young men going away to make their fortune, with grand plans to return someday, wealthy, and ready to buy their farm, or marry their childhood sweet heart. They rarely actually return.