Reacting to the redundancy figures for 2008 issued by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association (ISME ), warned that unless the cost of maintaining staff was addressed, the labour market would collapse.
The figures confirmed that there were 40,607 redundancies in 2008, an increase of 60 per cent on the previous year. The December figures alone recorded a massive 95 per cent increase on the corresponding period in 2007.
The figures also confirm that over half (54 per cent ) the redundancies were in construction and manufacturing. However, 30 per cent of job losses were in the services sector and females now account for 31 per cent of redundancies, confirming that job losses are now spread throughout the whole economy.
According to ISME Chief Executive, Mark Fielding: “The latest figures confirm that the jobs market is in crisis, with on average 800 redundancies reported on a weekly basis. The situation will continue to deteriorate, with ISME predicting that January will be the worst month on record for announced job losses. This is primarily due to the fact that many businesses are reviewing their options after the Christmas period.”
The association warned that unless serious action is taken to address the cost environment, the problem is going to continue to be much worse, the further we move into 2009. “The Government need to address in particular the cost of labour which is still well in excess of many of our competitors. The National Pay Agreement negotiated by the vested interests in the trade unions and big business needs to be scrapped without delay, in order to introduce some level of certainty to labour costs, a significant outlay for most businesses,” the ISME have warned.
