Finding employment in Ireland is more difficult than in almost any other European country, with an estimated 50 people for every vacancy, figures from the European Commission show.

As well as a saturated job market, Ireland was named as one of the five countries where the work situation is expected to worsen, reports the Irish Examiner.

The research comes from a European Commission initiative which aims to monitor the demand for labor as well as keeping track of unemployment levels in member countries.
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Findings show that from April to June of last year, there were around 6,000 job vacancies in Ireland, while unemployment levels reached 300,000.

The report shows an increase in youth unemployment. While some employers need young skilled people to fill high tech positions, the jobs are usually short term and poorly paid.

The European Commission plans to set up actions teams in countries such as Ireland, who will establish youth employment plans to introduce people back into the workforce.

Despite this, the latest job figures released yesterday show that the jobless rate showed a slight decline to 14.2 percent in January.

Long term unemployment remains an issue with the number of those unemployed for longer than 12 months accounting for more than 183,000 out of the total figure.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions told the Irish Times that unemployment levels were still very worrying.

“The level of unemployment in Ireland is so high that it really is a national emergency. And the growing numbers of long term unemployed revealed in the CSO data - up by a substantial 24,000 in just one year - is very worrying," congress economic adviser Paul Sweeney told the paper.