Banking employment slumps by 22%

THE Irish banking sector saw employment growth slump by 22% last year.

Just 289 jobs were added in banking last year, compared with 1,915 the previous year. The decline is in spite of figures showing that employment in Ireland’s international financial services industry hit 25,000 for the first time in 2007, according to the latest 2008 Finance Dublin Yearbook.

The Yearbook says the credit crisis is having an impact on jobs growth. It shows that companies based at the Irish Financial Services Centre (IFSC) and other Irish international financial services companies was just over 8% last year — half the growth recorded the previous year.