Irish services industry defies slowdown to keep hiring more people in July

Another bright spot was in recruitment as services firms anticipated taking on more work in future months.

The services part of the economy continued to grow "strongly" in July and continued to hire, defying the rapid slowdown to affect manufacturing, the latest survey has revealed. 

The AIB survey of purchasing managers working in the services industry showed that the growth was led by financial services firms, and came as companies passed on costs to their customers in higher prices. A similar survey of Irish manufacturing reported earlier this week that growth in the output of factories had expanded last month, but had slowed dramatically, as the global inflation crisis bites.