Less than one in 100 new jobs are being created in South East: CSO
LESS than one in every 100 new jobs created in Ireland last year were in the South East.
New figures released by the Central Statistics Office provide a stark reminder of how employment in the South East continues to lag behind other regions.
Overall, a total of 66,700 jobs were created nationally in the 12 months to the end of September this year.
Dublin and the Mid East commuter belt counties around the capital swallowed up more than 60pc of the new jobs.
However, just 600 new jobs were created in Kilkenny, Carlow, Waterford, Wexford and Tipperary during the same period.
While the country is continuing to edge towards full employment, the figures reveal a major urban-rural divide is developing. An analysis of the latest figures suggests the recovery is heavily weighed towards the capital, which also takes 61pc of new tech jobs.
The Government yesterday unveiled details of their ‘Future Jobs’ programme, which will replace the ‘Action Plan for Jobs’ set up during the recession. Today it will launch a €1bn fund for investment in rural towns and villages with a population under 10,000 over the next 10 years.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar acknowledged the widening regional imbalance, saying: “History is littered with examples of regions that thrived economically at one time or another, but were complacent, assumed their competitive advantage would last forever, and fell into decline.”
However, Fianna Fáil warned the Government’s new jobs plan is likely to be an “optical illusion” unless it urgently addresses the two-tier recovery.
Fianna Fáil business spokesperson Billy Kelleher warned: “Alarmingly, Dublin accounted for nearly half of total employment gains and the Greater Dublin Area accounting for over 60pc.
“This is clear, unambiguous evidence that the two-tier recovery is still being experienced by regional and rural Ireland.”
Where the 66,700 new jobs were created:
- Dublin: + 32,900 jobs
- South West: + 15,100
- Midlands: +7,900
- Mid East: +7,300
- West: +5,100
- South East: + 600
- Mid West: No change
- Border: Minus 3,100*Figures supplied by CSO
