I am delighted to announce that despite these challenging economic conditions; Cpl has been able to deliver a record sales figure and profitability of just under €10 million. This represents an overall 39% rise in operational profits. Cpl successfully placed over 25,000 people in the last 12 months in both temporary and permanent opportunities. This is testament to the hard work of our staff as well as their commitment to a strong customer service ethos. Our dedication to delivering comprehensive and integrated client and candidate solutions remains central to our success.
It is clear that there are still tough times ahead with much discussion on the news wires regarding the upcoming budget. Latest CSO figures highlight that we still have an unemployment rate of 14.7% with long term unemployed a growing issue. In my opinion, appropriate training programmes for the unemployed are vital, and hopefully these will be reviewed in the budget. These programmes meet two goals; firstly they prevent currently unemployed people from becoming demoralised while they are looking for work. Secondly, they ensure that jobseekers are sufficiently prepared for new employment opportunities in the future, by providing them with the valuable skills needed in today’s job market. Continued investment in developing young people’s skills is critical in order to avoid a lost generation of talent and skills shortages further down the line. We need combined “study and work programmes” for unemployed youth in order to get them into the workforce.
