A sharp fall in the level of inward investment combined with a dramatic rise in job losses made 2001 a bad year for IDA Ireland.

Employment in IDA-supported companies fell by 2.7 per cent over the year to 137,272, according to preliminary IDA figures.

The figures released yesterday show that some 13,145 new jobs were created in IDA-supported companies last year, well down on the 23,063 new jobs figure reported for 2000.

But job losses more than doubled to 17,082, resulting in a drop of over 3,900 in the numbers in full-time employment in IDA-supported companies at the end of the year. Job losses in 2001 jumped to 12.1 per cent of total jobs, up from 6.4 per cent in 2000.

The figures show a turnaround to a fall of 3,865 in employment in 2001 at IDA-supported companies, after an increase of 14,982 in the previous year. The greatest number of job losses came in the electronic and engineering sector, where total employment fell by 6,987 people over the year. In recent years new jobs in this sector have come mainly in the ICT area - information and communications technologies - which accounted for about half of all inward investment in 2000.

But both inward investment and the expansion plans of established firms were hit hard by the international downturn in the sector. At the end of the year there were about 55,000 people employed in IDA-supported companies in the ICT area, a fall of 11 per cent over the year.

The number of new jobs created in the sector dropped dramatically to 3,805 this year, from 10,673 in 2000. In addition to the fall-off in new jobs, the number of jobs lost in the sector jumped sharply to 10,792. High profile job losses in the ICT area included Motorola, Gateway, General Semiconductors and Shinko Microelectronics.

While the largest number of new jobs created in 2001 was in the international and financial services category, at 6,781, the number of jobs created was well down on the 9,556 created in 2000. The preliminary figures indicate that over 3,500 jobs were lost in the sector over the year, bringing the net increase in employment to just 3,221 for 2001.

Some 44,199 people were employed in IDA-supported companies in this sector. Employment increased in only two sectors - international and financial services, and pharmaceuticals and healthcare - this year, according to the latest figures.

There were sharp falls in the textile and clothing sectors, down 17.8 per cent to 2,690; in electronics and engineering, down 10 per cent to 62,442; and in miscellaneous industry, which was down 5.8 per cent to 7,295.

Though the outcome was positive in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector, the job loss figure was relatively high. Some 1,700 new jobs were created, but a net increase in employment of 970 over the year indicates about 730 jobs losses. There were 20,646 people employed in IDA-supported companies in this sector at the end of the year.

A breakdown of the outcome by region shows that the north-east was the worst affected. Employment in the region fell by 21.8 per cent, to 3,848.

The outcome for the Border, Midlands and West regions, or so-called Objective One areas - was a 4.5 per cent drop in total employment, to 28,031. Within these regions, the north-west/Donegal area recorded a 0.6 per cent rise in employment, to 5,408.

Employment in the east region dropped by 4.4 per cent to 65,299, while in the mid-west there was a 4 per cent fall to 13,538. The south-east and south-west fared best, with increases in employment of 3.8 per cent to 10,172 and 3.3 per cent to 20,232, respectively.

A breakdown of the numbers of jobs created and lost, by region, is not yet available. The IDA said more detailed breakdowns of the jobs figures will be available in early 2002.