Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
BUSINESS GROUP IBEC has published its economic outlook from the first three months of this year, and predicts that an additional 50,000 jobs will be created in Ireland in 2017.
The group said that the labour force will grow 2.7% this year and said that this increase, coupled with tax cuts, wage growth and limited inflation “bodes well for consumer spending”.
Another report by accountancy firm EY said that over three-quarters of entrepreneurs plan to recruit more people in the next year, but also highlighted their worries over the ever-increasing cost of doing business in Ireland.
Growth
Ibec forecasts that Ireland’s GDP will grow by 3.1% this year, and by 2.8% in 2018, “driven by a strong domestic economy”.
It said that the country is in a strong position with non-construction employment back to their highest levels since before the economic crisis.
The additional 50,000 jobs will come mostly from the service industry, almost 30,000, with a further increase in industrial sectors but a slight fall expected in the numbers employed in the agriculture sector.
When construction is excluded, most areas of the country are above the pre-crisis peak levels of employment, but the “south-west and particularly the border counties are still some way short”, Ibec said.
While consumer spending is expected to rise 3.3% this year, exports are expected to slow with Brexit effects “already evident” in the sector.
Fergal O’Brien, Ibec’s director of policy and public affairs, said: “The Irish economy is now in a strong position with employment growing by 2.9% in 2016, the fastest rate since 2007.
However, the economic impact of changes to our trading relations with the US and UK are still unknown and are a cause of concern for Irish businesses
Potential changes to the corporate tax rate in the US is a key concern going forward, given the presence of multinationals in Ireland, O’Brien said.
The potential for the US to introduce a border adjustment tax (BAT) is the biggest worry of all which would be “equivalent to imposing tariffs on imports while subsidising exports”.
He added that: “The US hasn’t been this close to a comprehensive corporate tax reform in decades.”
Ibec concluded by urging the government to take advantage of the current economic growth and impose decisive policy action to protect Ireland from the effects of Brexit.
“Investment and liveability issues such as transport, housing and education must be prioritised before the window of exceptionally cheap money closes any further,” O’Brien said.
Costly business
A new survey of entrepreneurs conducted by EY has said that the increasing cost of doing business in Ireland, and attracting the best workers, were among the biggest challenges they faced.
Almost three-quarters (72%) cited the personal tax burden as the biggest inhibiting factor on the appeal of establishing and growing a business here.
A further 62% said the cost of labour was a major inhibiting factor while 61% said the cost of insurance also played a part.
The high tax burden in Ireland also hampers businesses ability to attract the best talent, according to the EY survey.
Kevin McLoughlin, partner lead at EY entrepreneur of the year, said: “At the moment, entrepreneurs suffer a higher tax burden than those in employment, so this is an area that needs to be tackled head-on by government.
Clearly defining and tackling these issues will be imperative to Ireland’s continued economic growth.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
What’s the betting we soon have a labour shortage in this country again. Of course we still have the 5-10% of the labour force who are quiet happy to sit back and live off the rest of us.
@mickmc: I think they are referring to the lack of qualified staff with the right knowledge, skills and experience needed to operate a high tech business or manufacturing operation.
Ireland needs to sort out it’s severe housing and transport issues in order to ensure people who emigrate to Ireland have somewhere to live.
As well as reducing the tax burden on highly skilled staff who may command salaries internationally of €100k++
As for your 5 to 10% who are “Happy to sit back” just stop the chimp comment and realise that the figure you have chosen could contain those in training, out of work due to illness or pregnancy, those made redundant and seeking employment. Or who due to age for example find obtaining work extremely challenging..
@Dub_Right: excuse excuses excuses.
@mickmc: you’re never going to get 100% employment. Ever.
@Deborah Behan: well if there was less incentives to stay on it we probably could get to 98-99%.
@Deborah Behan: True – due to the reason stated.
The “we will work only when there are jobs paying what we believe we are worth”.
@Dub_Right: Not sure what these ‘knowledge skills’ you refer to are. Surely there are plenty of jobs which require common sense skills and energy to perform and learn rather than having to produce a piece of paper from a third level institution.
@mickmc: you’re a typical keyboard warrior and probably a cynical dick on top ..
@Dub_Right: don’t expect ff fg to sort any thing out there the ones that created this mess along with their buddies liebour
Does anyone know if IBEC have ever been right before…about anything?
@Connolly Association: they’re right more regularly than all those groups with Connolly in their names
@Connolly Association:
Concepts of right and wrong are irrelevant to Ibec. They will always support the interests of the minority capitalist class and oppose the working class. In the same way the esteemed consultants E&Y quoted were “wrong” when they needed to be about Anglo’s accounts and missed the €7 billion (that’s a 7 and 9 zeroes ) in loans flying between Irish Life & Permanent and the bank just a few weeks before Anglo reported it’s accounts.
@Barney Dooley: You really are a toothache looking for a tooth Wally. If it rained liquid gold you’d complain about getting wet.
@Colin Moran: Improvements in the economy are trouble for Wally and his politics. The hard left need unemployment and recession to increase their support, the trouble is when the economy improves that small increase of support (and we are talking just 4 to 5 % here) they have got over the last few years will fall away.They will move from being irrelevant to completely irrelevant.
@Robert Woodward:
Our future is secure then as late stage parasitic capitalism drives more and more of the population into poverty to continue to enrich the oligarchy:
“George Magnus, a senior economic analyst at UBS bank, wrote an article with the intriguing title: “Give Karl Marx a Chance to Save the World Economy”. Switzerland-based UBS is a pillar of the financial establishment, with offices in more than 50 countries and over $2 trillion in assets. Yet in an essay for Bloomberg View, Magnus wrote that “today’s global economy bears some uncanny resemblances to what Marx foresaw.”
In his article he starts by describing policy makers “struggling to understand the barrage of financial panics, protests and other ills afflicting the world” and suggests that they would do well to study the works of “a long-dead economist, Karl Marx.”
“Consider, for example, Marx’s prediction of how the inherent conflict between capital and labor would manifest itself. As he wrote in Das Kapital, companies’ pursuit of profits and productivity would naturally lead them to need fewer and fewer workers, creating an ‘industrial reserve army’ of the poor and unemployed: ‘Accumulation of wealth at one pole is, therefore, at the same time accumulation of misery’.”
He continues:
“The process he [Marx] describes is visible throughout the developed world, particularly in the U.S. Companies’ efforts to cut costs and avoid hiring have boosted U.S. corporate profits as a share of total economic output to the highest level in more than six decades, while the unemployment rate stands at 9.1 percent and real wages are stagnant.
“U.S. income inequality, meanwhile, is by some measures close to its highest level since the 1920s. Before 2008, the income disparity was obscured by factors such as easy credit, which allowed poor households to enjoy a more affluent lifestyle. Now the problem is coming home to roost.”
@Barney Dooley:ah Wally, you’re poor little brain must get in an awful tizzy when you have to constantly rummage through your files to cite someone who said something about something. The rest of us just live our lives like normal, knowing that the world is not, nor will ever be, perfect but that capitalism is here to stay no matter how much you click your diamond slippers and wish it away.
@Barney Dooley: Oh Wally, by the way, is that the same George Magnus that said on 21st March in Prospect magazine:
“The US, though, is the single most important part of the world’s economic jigsaw. As I commented here recently, the Federal Reserve’s decision two weeks ago to raise interest rates for the third time since the financial crisis is being taken as a sign of confidence. After an extraordinarily long inventory rundown, lasting five quarters, the US economy is perkier, growing by 3.5 per cent and 1.9 per cent, respectively, in the last two quarters of 2016. The early indications for the start of 2017 are mixed, but employment growth has been firm, there has been some gentle rise in wages and labour force participation, and we have yet to see any impact from the Trump Administration’s spending and tax policies. Even if financial markets are exaggerating the growth boost from his tax and infrastructure policies, there should be some positive impact on growth in 2017, and a slightly bigger one in 2018.
What could go wrong? Unfortunately, quite a lot. Political risk looms large over the current expansion. The Dutch may have dodged a bullet in last week’s elections, but there are more battles to fight against resurgent populism and the restrictive, protectionist economic policies that populists embrace. Politics aside, though, economic expansions can’t be milked forever. Imbalances emerge over time, and someone’s balance sheet—whether it belongs to the government, companies, banks or households, deteriorates to the point where it threatens and then undermines the business cycle.”
So he’s positive about the global markets, employment, anti-restriction, anti-protectionist and anti-populist as well as his comments about the government balance sheet making total shite out of your nonsense about governments never having to be in debt etc.
hmmmmmmm.
@Colin Moran:
“you’re poor little brain must get in an awful tizzy when you have to constantly rummage through your files to cite someone who said something about something.”
Says my loyal little stalker as he rummages around to cite someone who said something about something :)
@Colin Moran:
P.S He’s a macroeconomic illiterate much like yourself who he believes the issuer of the dollar can run out of dollars. That’s why he’s looking to Marx to explain how the capitalist economy operates. You should do the same instead of trotting around after me like an obedient hound :)
@Barney Dooley: So when you cite external references from the Internet it’s valid but when anyone else does it’s not?
Very Trumpian of you there Conor.
@Barney Dooley: a ‘macroeconomic illiterate’?
I can see why you quoted him to substantiate your point! HahahAAA!!!
You’re a complete clown Conor and what you call stalking I call ‘making Wally and the AAA look like idiots’.
It’s fun! And easy.
Jobs. There will be outrage here…
Brilliant. Now all we need to do is sort out the tax system so we can attract the best to the country.
@Science of beer: and accommodation.
@Deborah Behan: and transport
And that’s not noonan, or coveney, or ross, or harris, or kenny, or leo, or martin.
While the job forecasts are welcome, there is still a shortage of affordable housing to rent around our cities. People will be more cautious this time about buying houses unless they are sure that employment is sustainable
@Chris Kirk: Housing and rents will only go worse with that according to my experience. Thou as prosperity cant stay too long we will face overall collapse in few years and everything will go back to normal.
If anything these forecasts are too pessimistic, the construction sector alone is going to expand at least 15% this year given the huge backlog of projects about to start.
The media likes to make out that we are entirely dependent on world events, but the truth is we have a domestic economy with it’s own momentum which should carry us through the next few years, even if exports are flat.
@Fred Jensen: and this construction growth, are they only building commercial property for domestic Irish companies? Are they only building residential properties for the Irish born population? The answer to both if course is no. As a nation we are almost entirely dependent on foreign investment, our politicians have built our economy around it and to suggest otherwise is utterly deluded.
Recovery deniers will be along soon to call this a fake news story and to tell us that “nobody they know has got a job or pay increase”
I am waiting for the flood of multinationals to come over after BREXIT with their highly skilled workforce and add further damnation to the housing situation. Granted, a percentage of these companies will employee people from the Island although it is a gaurentee that many existing employees will follow – the already crippled housing situation with fall asunder.
Between 2002 and 2007 (the so-called Celtic tiger), our exports were largely falt or increased only marginally. All of that growth was domestic construction and consumer spending led.
@Fred Jensen: and yet you are supporting and celebrating growth in construction in your comment above. Only an idiot would not learn the lessons of the past.
@Fred Jensen: You are right, but look where the celtic tiger led us, Ireland became greedy and uncompetitive. Some so called builders and trades people charging ridiculous prices for shoddy workmanship for houses sold from a plan. I hate to think that people would be that foolish again and we could end up back to that era. But if fianna fail get back into government you never know what will follow. I wish that someone would prioritise the country’s public transport network.
I read in the paper yesterday that we are going to lose kobs as irish companies move to Britain!
@Adrian: And along comes captain miserable Adrian.
Britain probably needs people who can spell.
Jobs… OK. Tax cuts….OK. Borrowing….not OK. In a nutshell. Debt still there….
have your say