In Belfast, Northern Ireland, Peace but No Prosperity

The Good Friday Agreement in April 1998 ended three decades of violence in Northern Ireland between Catholic republicans seeking a united Ireland and Protestant unionists loyal to the U.K. The peace has largely held, a remarkable achievement. Yet in the streets of Belfast (pop. 281,000), the city most injured by the “Troubles,” few are celebrating the 15th anniversary of the agreement. They just want a job.

While the swelling ranks of jobless Spaniards and Greeks have come to symbolize Europe’s economic crisis, few cities are struggling more than Belfast. “This is the toughest time I can remember for work,” says Robert Ireland, 30, speaking in a job center for the unemployed in the heavily Catholic Whiterock area of West Belfast, where almost 1 in 5 men are out of work. “People wanted peace, but they didn’t realize it would take more than that to deliver jobs,” says John Bryars, 47, as he checks leads in a jobs center in Sandy Row, a Protestant area.