A TOTAL of 434 people
in Donegal were made redundant last year, new
figures show.
The league table released by the Small Firms'
Association (SFA) said the level of redundancies in
2007 showed that exposed sectors of the economy
continue to come under severe global competitive
pressure.
Higher domestic costs in electricity, gas, local
authority, waste, water and environmental charges
continue to undermine the overall competitive
position, the SFA concluded.
SFA director Patricia Callan, however, said Donegal
was not the worse affected county.
Nearly 43% of all jobs lost were in Dublin, followed
by Cork, Limerick and Galway with job losses of
2707, 1250 and 1172 respectively.
"The economy is losing on average 490 jobs every
week, which is twice the level of redundancies
recorded in 2000," said Ms. Callan.
She said the construction, civil engineering sectors
had significant job losses of 3,445 and 1,789 jobs
respectively last year.
“The loss of such a significant number of jobs in
regional areas where they will not be easily
replaced is particularly concerning," she added,
calling on the state agencies concerned to do all in
their power to promote the creation of enterprise
and employment in a regionally-balanced way.
The SFA report shows that men suffered some 61% of
all job losses, with the balance of 39% lost by
females. |
