Lay-offs up 30% in first half of 2008

AS THE economy continues to slow, the number of redundancies continue to rise, with the latest statistics showing that redundancies are up by almost 30 per cent in the first six months of 2008, compared with the same period last year.

From January to June, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment received 16,519 applications under the statutory redundancy scheme, compared with 12,721 in 2007.

Moreover, during the 12-month period from June 2007 to June 2008, redundancies actually jumped by 45.4 per cent, from 2,046 in June 2007 to 2,975 in June this year.

During May, a total of 2,477 people were made redundant and more than half of these were male.

One hundred and twenty jobs were cut at Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Crumlin, while in Cork, technology company Freescale shut its operation with the loss of 47 jobs, and the Hormann Electronics plant also shut its doors with the loss of 138 jobs.

In the brewing sector, Diageo announced 250 job losses and the St Francis Abbey brewery cut 93 jobs in Kilkenny.

The services sector was hit hardest, with 720 lay-offs in May, accounting for 30 per cent of total redundancies. During the first six months of the year, 4,197 jobs were lost in services.

Unsurprisingly, the construction sector, which continues to suffer from the economic slowdown, accounted for the next highest number of redundancies in May at 689, representing over a quarter of total lay-offs that month. From January to June, 3,481 people were made redundant in the sector, 93 per cent of whom were male.