The number of Irish building services jobs has now risen by nearly 33pc, CSO survey says
THE number of people who work servicing buildings and landscaping soared by almost a third year on year in the second quarter, detailed Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) figures indicate.
The breakdown of the numbers employed in almost 100 job categories (rather than the 14 included in the general release of the QNHS data) says a similar percentage increase — 29pc — was seen in the numbers working in the creative, arts and entertainment sector.
The figures are based on a survey of 26,000 households — not the country as a whole — so the CSO emphasises that there is a margin of error.
The number involved in pharmaceutical manufacturing rose 12.8pc year on year to 37,100, while the number working in “construction of buildings” rose 7.9pc to 62,600.
The total number of people in employment was listed as 2.02 million — up 2.9pc on the same period last year.
Year-on-year drops were seen in telecommunications (down 14.3pc) and “activities auxiliary to financial services and insurance” (down 17.6pc).
On Monday, the Nevin Economic Research Institute (Neri) said the total number of jobs in the Irish economy is 94pc of the figure seen just prior to the economic collapse.
However, the figures indicated striking regional disparities. Neri said Dublin was the best-performing region since 2008 — at 96.8pc of its mid-2008 total employment.
The worst-performing at 89.2pc was the West, including Galway, Roscommon and Mayo. The Mid-West, which takes in Limerick, Clare and North Tipperary, was at 90.5pc.
Dr Tom McDonnell, Neri senior economist, said some small towns may never recover.
“For Limerick, Galway and Cork, I believe those three cities will begin to recover, and are already starting to recover,” McDonnell told the Irish Independent.
He added: “I think it’s going to be much more difficult for regional towns — the Athlones, Tralees, places like that. They’ll find it much more difficult, and some of them won’t ever recover.”