ISME calls for action plan on jobs as 8,000 are made redundant in a month

THE number of people made redundant in May almost trebled compared with the same month in 2008.

According to figures released by the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment, a total of 8,042 people were made redundant in May. That compares with 2,462 people in May 2008, an increase of 227%. Almost half (49%) of the redundancies were in construction and manufacturing.

However, 34% of job losses were in the services sector and females now account for 31% of redundancies, confirming that job losses continue to be spread throughout the whole economy.