Tech job cuts having ‘no visible impact’ on Irish labour market 

The Irish economy grew by 12.2% last year almost double Portugal's growth which was in second place.

Ireland's labour market has not been impacted by a series of job cuts announced by tech firms, new analysis from the European Commission states.

The Commission's Winter interim Forecast said Ireland will top EU GDP growth for 2023 and 2024 according to the economic forecast. It says the Irish labour market remains resilient despite a series of layoff announcements from large multinationals such as Twitter, Meta, Google and Microsoft.

It also lifts the growth outlook for this year to 0.8% in the EU and 0.9% in the euro area. GDP is projected to expand by 1.6% in 2024.

Both areas are now set to narrowly avoid the technical recession that was anticipated for the turn of the year. The forecast also slightly lowers the projections for inflation for both 2023 and 2024.

Almost a year after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the EU economy entered 2023 on a better footing than projected in autumn.

Diversification of supply sources and a sharp drop in consumption have left gas storage levels above the seasonal average of past years, and wholesale gas prices have fallen well below pre-war levels. In addition, the EU labour market has continued to perform strongly, with the unemployment rate remaining at its all-time low of 6.1% until the end of 2022.

Growth forecast for 2023 (%):

🇮🇪 4.9
🇲🇹 3.1
🇷🇴 2.5
🇱🇺 1.7
🇨🇾 1.6
🇸🇰 1.5
🇪🇸 1.4
🇧🇬 1.4
🇬🇷 1.2
🇭🇷 1.2
🇸🇮 1.0
🇵🇹 1.0
🇳🇱 0.9
🇧🇪 0.8
🇮🇹 0.8
🇪🇺 0.8
🇫🇷 0.6
🇭🇺 0.6
🇦🇹 0.5
🇵🇱 0.4
🇱🇹 0.3
🇩🇪 0.2
🇫🇮 0.2
🇨🇿 0.1
🇪🇪 0.1
🇱🇻 0.1
🇩🇰 0.1
🇸🇪 -0.8

Winter #ECForecast ↓

— European Commission (@EU_Commission) February 13, 2023

"We have entered 2023 on a firmer footing than anticipated: the risks of recession and gas shortages have faded and unemployment remains at a record low," EU Commissioner for the Economy Paolo Gentiloni said. "Yet Europeans still face a difficult period ahead. Growth is still expected to slow down on the back of powerful headwinds and inflation will relinquish its grip on purchasing power only gradually over the coming quarters."

In its analysis for Ireland, the Commission forecasts GDP growth of 4.9% this year and 4.1% in 2024.

It said the Irish labour market continues to perform very well, with the unemployment rate at 4.3% in December.

"Despite news on some “big tech” companies reducing their staff worldwide in autumn, with yet no visible negative impact in Ireland where the multinational sector has increased employment in 2022 by 9%."

"Ireland’s economic outlook remains subject to uncertainty due to trade developments related to the implementation of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland. Furthermore, the performance of multinational corporations could swing growth in either direction."