Anyone know why we are at 23% of households reliant totally on State benefits while the UK/Belgium are at 13%, the closest to us in the EU?
And Ireland with 1 of the youngest populations in Western Europe.
It's probably because we have nearly the highest social welfare rates in Europe. It makes no sense for a man with a wife and child to work when he gets such high social welfare, housing and healthcare free of charge.
We also have very high numbers of people on disability and invalidity. On objectively measurable disabilities such as blindness or physical disabilities, we are average. But apparently, the Irish have much higher than average problems with back pain and "the nerves" - illnesses which can't really be objectively challenged.
Here is what the NESC said about it
"
Jobless Households - an Exploration of the Issues
Ireland has a high level of household joblessness compared to other European countries, with nearly one-quarter (23 per cent) of households in Ireland described as jobless (in 2010). The next-highest countries were UK and Belgium at 13 per cent, with an EU-15 average of 11 per cent. A distinguishing feature of Ireland’s jobless households is the likelihood that they contain children. While fewer than 30 per cent of adults in jobless households live with children in other EU-15 countries, more than half do in Ireland at 56 per cent.
Various explanations have been put forward to explain the causes of household
joblessness. These can be summarised as follow:
The operation of the tax and welfare system;
The state of the labour market; and
The characteristics of jobless households (age, level of education, age and
number of children, health status of adults and children)."
One would expect that the countries with the highest unemployment rates would have the highest jobless families rates, but that is not the case.
Brendan