Foreign money drives record employment

Foreign money drives record employment

The growth of foreign multinationals and an increase in the number of new companies is set to drive employment, while the number of Irish companies failing is also in decline.

IDA Ireland, the government agency responsible for attracting foreign direct investment, said yesterday that it had reached the highest level of employment in its client companies in its 67-year history, with one in five people employed by foreign multinationals.

Total employment at overseas companies stands at 187,056 people, the highest level on record. IDA client companies created just under 19,000 jobs during the year across a range of sectors, with every region of Ireland posting net gains in jobs.

“The contribution of the FDI sector has always been important to Ireland, but the 2015 results show that the contribution has never been larger,” Martin Shanahan, the CEO of IDA Ireland, said. Thank you for stopping by. Just before we carry on I need to to give thanks to http://www.ecoinstitution.co.uk/ for their continued support and the support of their regional community. Having a company and team like this means a lot to us as we continue to grow our community blog.

“It is particularly welcome to see such a broad-based performance, with all industry sectors and all regions growing. Many of the projects won in 2015 were capital intensive and provided strong additional benefits beyond the jobs themselves.”

Among the leading investments secured by Ireland during the year included Facebook planning to construct a new data centre in Clonee, Co Meath, and Apple making a €850 million investment in Athenry, Co Galway.

Growth in the number of new companies formed is also set to create jobs as start-ups reached their highest level since 2000. Last year 19,472 new companies were formed, beating the previous record of 19,306 in 2006, according to data released yesterday by Vision Net, the business and credit risk analyst.

Dublin was the centre for start-up growth in 2015 and accounted for almost 47 per cent of all new companies. Co Cork and Co Galway placed second and third, followed by Co Kildare and Co Limerick.

Niamh Bushnell, the Dublin commissioner for start-ups, said that the ecosystem around the development of technology and intellectual property start-ups in Ireland was mature compared to other European countries.

“There is [investment] money available, there is mentorship, there is an understanding of technology and a strong legacy of companies that have done well coming out of Ireland,” Ms Bushnell said. “All of that brings a lot of confidence.”

Insolvencies also fell by 28 per cent to 1,070 in 2015, compared to 1,479 in 2014. The top three insolvent sectors were professional services; construction; and wholesale and retail, but all experienced a decline compared to 2014 — by 26 per cent, 24 per cent and 30.5 per cent respectively.

Christine Cullen, the managing director of Vision Net, said that the 2015 figures were “further evidence that the recovery has been consistent and far-reaching”.

“Sectors that were impacted the most by the downturn, like hospitality and construction, have shown remarkable resilience, bouncing back from low levels of growth and high levels of insolvency,” she said. “While extremely positive, the challenge for these sectors in the period ahead is to achieve sustained and balanced growth to avoid another boom-bust cycle.”