US jobs figures draw attention on Pfizer’s Irish tax inversion

US employment data is due to be published this Friday, with the non-farm payrolls number expected to be 200,000.

This is down from February, when the economy added a better-than-expected 242,000 jobs, despite fears that the US could be joining a global slowdown. The unemployment rate held at an eight-year low of 4.9 per cent even as more people piled into the labour market.

Predictions for March jobs numbers range between 145,000 and 235,000. Growth estimates for the first quarter are around a 2.5 per cent rate.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump recently called out Ireland for taking US jobs. Referring to pharmaceutical giant Pfizer's recent decision to move its corporate headquarters to Dublin, Mr Trump said these countries were taking jobs from the US.

"You're losing Pfizer to Ireland, a great pharmaceutical company that with many, many jobs and it's going to move to Ireland".

Pfizer is set to relocate to Dublin following its acquisition of Irish-headquartered Allergan in a $150 billion deal last year. The deal, a so-called tax inversion, will see Pfizer move its tax base to Ireland where Allergan is based, allowing the company to avoid US tax bills on more than $128 billion of profits earned overseas.