Boom time: jobs surge to continue in 2006

THE jobs boom is set to continue this year, the Industrial Development Agency (IDA) predicted last night, as it announced that the country had seen the biggest increase in employment in five years.

Nearly 13,000 jobs were created in Ireland by foreign companies in 2005.

Figures released by the IDA yesterday show that employment in multinational firms increased by 12,605 to 133,362. The rise was offset by the loss of 8,000 jobs across the country, but the net increase of almost 5,000 has not been seen since 2000.

The manufacturing sector, which has seen the largest number of job cuts in recent years, added 1,500 positions, with employment in the sector up 5% in the past decade, despite fears traditional industrial jobs were in terminal decline.

The IDA supported 71 projects in 2005 with a total investment of €745 million. A further €260m was committed to 50 research and development projects.

The drive to attract jobs to the regions was also successful, with 46 projects going outside Dublin.

IDA chief executive Sean Dorgan said the outlook for this year was positive.

“The volume and quality of new business in our pipeline is as strong as it has been at any stage in recent years,” Mr Dorgan said.

The IDA is in negotiations with the biopharmaceutical company Amgen about one of the largest ever investments in the country.

It is understood Amgen could create more than 1,000 jobs in Cork in a €1.3 billion investment. However, the IDA will have to see off competition from Switzerland and Singapore.

During 2005, the IDA said that household names such as Google, Amazon, Dell and Yahoo increased their staff numbers here.

Around half of new jobs last year required a third-level qualification and the IDA warned that attracting foreign investment depended on increasing the skills of the workforce.

“The science and IT disciplines need candidates more than ever and we have to strongly encourage a drive toward further education to the fourth level for masters degree and PhD graduates to remain competitive,” Mr Dorgan said.

The IDA said the average worker in a company it supports earns more than €37,000 annually, compared to the average industrial wage of just under €30,000.

While just 10% of the labour market are employed in multinational companies, their importance to the economy is far greater, contributing €2.5bn in corporation tax - nearly half the total - each year.

IDA stats:

12,605 jobs created in 2005.

133,362 now employed in IDA-backed firms.

€745 million invested in 71 companies in 2005.

€2.5 billion paid in corporation tax.

€75 billion in annual sales generated by foreign companies.