Economic Recession Winners and Losers

It is clear who the losers are - the new unemployed. Those who are in the system for a while have established themselves, mortgage interest subsity or rent allowance, living allowance in place, the shock has worn off a bit and are slightly better off. For everyone else it is a case of relative poverty. Low paid civil and public servants have probably suffered a quadruple double whammy, decided to take a low risk low pay job, then lost out on the second round of benchmarking "because they had a good pension", lost out on property because they couldn't afford to buy with low pay, had to pay the pension levy "because they had a good pension", then had to pay the employment levy, no further staff being recruited and extra demand on social welfare services. Non commercial public sector are slightly worse off as they have to contribute (or pay for) their pensions. Most earn less than €37,000 pa , so they pay PRSI, Pension, Employment Levy and PAYE. The sad thing is that those paying little or no PAYE are hit harder.

The winners are keeping quiet.