Good news on the double for economy

THERE was good news on the economy yesterday as employment agency FÁS reported record growth in the workforce and state business development agency Enterprise Ireland said Irish exporters had an “exceptional” year.

FÁS said immigration patterns and increased female participation had driven the growth in the numbers at work, but its annual review warned employment growth would slow down in the year ahead and that jobless figures could rise if competitiveness issues were not addressed. The agency also said labour shortages were beginning to bite in certain specialist areas, such as information technology (IT), engineering, finance and healthcare. It warned an over-reliance on immigrants to fill vacancies would hide a failure to address skills gaps.

Speaking at the launch of the FÁS review, Enterprise, Trade and Employment Minister Micheál Martin said the Government would remain focused on identifying skills gaps and fixing problems where necessary.