The South East Regional Skills Forum informed us recently that eleven out of fourteen economic sectors in the south East have seen steady growth over the last three years, according to the CSO’s Labour Force Survey which is conducted every quarter.
The only sectors that showed a decline were ‘Financial, insurance & real estate’ which may reflect a contraction of the retail banking sector; ‘Professional, scientific & technical services’ which has remained static and ‘Health & social work’, likely due to the public sector recruitment embargo that prevailed. Otherwise, the region is showing ongoing signs of growth.
Unemployment is down significantly over the same period with the latest national unemployment figures standing at 6.1% in February 2018, down from 10.8% in December 2015. More revealing is the dramatic reduction in youth unemployment which stood at 21.3% in Dec 2014 and is down to 12.6% in Feb 2018.
This much improved economic situation is prompting employers to pay greater attention to retaining and upskilling existing staff as it becomes harder to recruit new employees. National policy is supporting this through greater financial support for training staff in employment with programmes such as Springboard+, Skillnets and apprenticeships and traineeships.
If you require any particular insights into training opportunities for your staff, contact the South East
Regional Skills Forum.
Edmond Connolly
Manager SERSF
edmondconnolly@regionalskills.ie
087 8314729