Irish News

08/03/2010 : 11:22:54 We have less downtime despite downturn

Irish people have less free time on their hands now than ever before despite the recession and rising joblessness, a new survey has found.

Some 57pc of respondents to the JCI Ireland survey have less leisure time than they did 12 months ago, surprising given the highly publicised unemployment figures.

With the majority of people (56pc) having between one and four hours free time per day there is still no time for relaxing - 70pc of all surveyed said that they would like to use their 'down time' to develop their business potential and networking skills. This figure is up 14pc on 2008 levels.

Only 68pc of those surveyed are in full time employment.

Mark Kelly, JCI Ireland President, said he believes that this survey is a reflection of the mood of the nation.

"With the downturn in the jobs market, we are all maximising our free time both to boost CVs and for personal development. It is encouraging that so few people are willing to rest on their laurels and at JCI we are certainly seeing an increase in interest in the community based and business focused work that we do." JCI Ireland is part of Junior Chamber International, the largest personal and leadership development organisation for young people in the world.

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