Growth in Women in Workplace to be Welcomed

Chambers Ireland today (21 May 2019) welcomes the results from the CSO Labour Force Survey showing continued employment growth in the Irish economy for the first quarter of the year and the lowest unemployment rate since 2005.

Speaking this afternoon, Chambers Ireland Chief Executive Ian Talbot said,

“The continued growth in employment, especially in the regions, is welcome and will go a long way to making our economy more resilient. 
In particular, the increase in the number of women at work is positive. Ireland has a much lower rate of female labour participation than the EU average.

Emerging skills gaps and increased competition for talent have been identified as some of the priority issues for Chambers Ireland this year. 
Ensuring that more women can both remain in and return to the workplace is one way we can address these challenges.

But we can only do this if we make childcare more affordable. 
While a lot progress has been made on this front, sustained investment in the Budgets to come will be crucial. Further, for family-friendly work policies like agile and remote working to be options for working parents, access to broadband must be secured. If we are going to make headway in boosting female labour participation, Government must ensure that promised investment in affordable childcare is sustained in the coming months and years ahead.”

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For further information please contact Gabriel Doran, Communications & Public Affairs Executive on 01 400 4331, 086 608 1605 or email gabriel.doran@www.chambers.ie