US companies in Ireland have more than 1,250 job vacancies for which they are currently recruiting, wih 350 of these available in the west, according to a new survey from the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland.
As it stands almost 100,000 people are directly employed in more than 600 US firms in Ireland accounting for 70 per cent of all IDA supported employment. In 2008, US firms paid over €3b to the Irish Exchequer Taxes such as corporation tax, VAT, and payroll taxes (or approx 40 per cent of total corporate tax take in 2008 and contributed a further €15bn in expenditure to the Irish economy in terms of payrolls, goods and services employed in their operations.
According to Mr Gerard P Kilcommins vice president of the American Chamber and chair of its Western Region, the outlook for the west is particularly positive with almost 70 per cent of respondents currently recruiting jobs in areas such as engineering and R&D. There are currently 70 multinational companies in the west region employing 14,000 people and since the beginning of this year 23 US companies have announced investments in Ireland, four of which are major investments in the Western Region which will result in some 350 high calibre new jobs in the coming years.
“Many of these investments have been in research and development, which further embeds Ireland within the global corporation. At a time when competition for FDI has never been greater, these investments and these new jobs are very welcome,” said Mr Kilcommins.
A total of 82 per cent of respondents to the American Chamber survey also said Ireland has become more competitive in the current recession, with 81 per cent noticing a reduction in the cost of doing business in Ireland. Labour, energy, and transport costs have all reduced according to respondents of our survey.
“While much still needs to be done – on the education front, on investment in infrastructure, and in the delivery of the smart economy, the strong message which we can take away from this survey and from the levels of investment secured by US companies in Ireland this year is that Ireland remains a location of choice for US companies and that these companies are confident of Ireland’s ability to emerge from the current recession,” Mr Kilcommins concluded.
