Catholic fight for job equality
CATHOLICS still suffer disadvantages in employment, a British government agency has admitted in a report published last week.
According to statistics published by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Catholics represent 41 per cent of the economically active (i.e. those in work or actively seeking work), although figures from the last census (1991) put the Catholic population at 43 per cent, a figure which is believed to have since risen.
The report, based on the findings of the 1997 Labour Force Survey (LFS), also reveals that Catholics accounted for 62 per cent of the unemployed in the North.
The unemployment rate for Catholics was 12 per cent, more than twice the rate for Protestants (5 per cent).
Catholic representation in the workforce was highest (41 per cent) in medium-sized workplaces, with11-49 employees. Protestant representation was highest in workplaces employing 50 or more persons (37 per cent).
Protestant representation was highest in the financial sector (67 per cent), while Catholic employment rates were highest in service industries such as hotels and restaurants (48 per cent).
Seven per cent of Catholic females were unemployed compared to five per cent of Protestant women.
When the of length of time the unemployed were looking for work was examined, 32 per cent of Catholics, compared to 19 per cent of Protestants, had been looking for four years or more.
In terms of qualifications attained by the economically active, 15 per cent of Catholics with A Levels came out ahead of Protestants, with12 per cent. Fourteen per cent of Catholics and 18 per cent of Protestants had O Levels as their highest level of qualification. Similar proportions of Protestants and of Catholics had `no qualification' (21 per cent).
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