SFA warns of more job losses in 2004

THE Small Firms Association has warned that 2004 will be another dire year for jobs following nearly 25,000 redundancies this year.

In its end-of-year statement, the SFA said 2003 had been the worst year for redundancies since 1984 and the outlook for next year was not much better. The manufacturing sector had taken the bulk of the job losses, while greater Dublin has been hardest-hit, accounting for nearly half of all jobs losses.

Unless serious action is taken, SFA director Pat Delaney says 2004 will be another bleak year. “We have been losing a job every 20 minutes and an average of 518 every week in 2003,” said Mr Delaney, with a further erosion of jobs expected in 2004.