Study finds Sligo has lowest jobs growth in country

Sligo has suffered the lowest employment growth of any county in the last five years and is now one of just six counties where the labour force is shrinking.

The latest analysis of the labour market in Sligo carried out by the Western Development Commission makes for sober reading.

Total employment grew by just 2.2 per cent between 2011 and 2016, significantly below the 11 per cent national growth and the lowest of any county in the State.

Sligo’s population has grown by 7.6 per cent in the last decade but we have a higher than average number of people unable to work due to disability or illness, a higher share of students and a higher share of retirees.

The top three employers in Sligo are in the Health & Social work, Wholesale & Retail and Industrial sectors, which account for 41 per cent of all jobs. In fact, Sligo has the highest share of population working in the Health sector in the State.

This sector includes residential care and child care as well as hospitals. They employ 15.5 per cent of Sligo’s workers compared to a national average of 11 per cent.

It’s not all bad however. Agriculture performed strongly with jobs growing by 8.5 per cent compared to a national decline of 2.6 per cent.

Employment in Education was up by 4.7 per cent while jobs in the Accommodation and Food Service sector grew by 7.8 per cent.

Interestingly, Sligo’s highest employment growth was in the Administrative and Other Services sector at 9.2 per cent, with arts and entertainment as well as hairdressing and beauty the main drivers.

The share of self-employed in Sligo is higher than the national average at 9 per cent.

More people are travelling into Sligo to work (3,730) than travel out of it (3,203).

Retail jobs dropped by 6 per cent since 2011.

Policy Analyst with the WDC Pauline White says: “It’s clear that Sligo has performed poorly in terms of recent jobs recovery. Agriculture was the only sector where Sligo outperformed the national average. Supporting young people to return to set up their own business and showing potential employers that there’s an appetite to return to Sligo could help stimulate growth.”