West lags way behind the rest on new jobs

Stark new Government figures have shown the severe extent to which Galway and the West is lagging behind the rest of the country in terms of job creation.

The Central Statistics Office figures show the West has not benefitted from the much-heralded economic recovery over the past three years.

It’s the latest in a series of official State and European reports over the past three years which show the massive economic disparity between the regions.

CSO figures show that in the three-year period up to the end of June 2015, regional employment growth for the West stood at just 2.1% – a fraction of the 8.1% growth in Dublin.

During that period, there were 3,800 jobs created in the West, compared to 44,400 in Dublin.

The extent of the economic imbalance becomes even more pronounced when compared to other regions – employment growth was 11.1% in the South East region (20,600 jobs); 10.6% in the Border region (18,500 jobs); the Midlands was 10.3% (10,800 jobs); 4.5% in the South West (12,300 jobs) and 4.5% in the Mid East region (10,000 jobs).

The only region which saw fewer jobs created than the West was the Mid West at 1.5% (2,200 jobs).

And ccording to employers group Ibec, the imbalance is worsened by the fact that Dublin was not as badly hit during the economic collapse.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.