OECD on Employment in Ireland: the outlook is "grim"

Nat O'Connor: The OECD has just published its Employment Outlook 2009. The main site is here, and there is also a report on Ireland.

The OECD is predicting up to 15 percent unemployment by end-2010.

They state: "To avoid a return to the high and persistent unemployment of the 1980s and early 1990s, a key priority is to provide effective employment services to a rapidly rising pool of jobseekers and ensure that the most vulnerable of them do not lose contact with the labour market and drift into inactivity."

They also question "whether re-employment assistance to jobseekers is adequate to prevent the sharp recession from turning into a long-term unemployment crisis."

Could there be a worse time for FÁS to be in such disarray?