IDA set for record job creation

IDA Ireland is on course for record job creation numbers for the second successive year, with the agency expected to report up to 8,000 net new jobs in 1996.

Government sources say the rate at which new jobs are coming on stream is unprecedented, with no evidence of a skills shortage so far in any sector of the economy.

Rejecting Opposition criticism that job announcements have been slow to translate into new jobs, the sources say that in almost all cases, companies are tending to recruit new employees more quickly than had been expected.

In the computer and electronics sector, where the bulk of the new jobs have been announced, substantial numbers of new employees have already been taken on. For instance, Intel, at Leixlip, Co Kildare, which announced 000 new jobs last October as part of an £800 million, five year expansion plan, has already met close to half of its new job commitments, with more than 900 new employees now working at the plant.

Official figures also show that Apple Computers, which announced 600 new jobs in Cork last year, has so far added 200 new jobs. Gateway computers, which is investing £25 million to expand its Dublin plan, has recruited 400 of the 1,200 new staff it has pledged.

In other sectors, employment growth has also been strong. The United Parcels Services project, which is to create 900 jobs in Tallaght, has similarly moved ahead at a rapid pace, with 450 new jobs already in place.

The number of new jobs at IBM's European call centre, announced earlier this year, is also ahead of target. In June, it announced the creation of 750 jobs over a three year period, with 200 people coming on board initially and numbers expected to swell to 500 within two years. It opened for business this month and already employs 300 people, according to official figures.

With such rapid growth in job creation, Government sources are indicating that IDA Ireland is currently bringing in around 1,000 new jobs a month. By year end, the State agency is expected to show net new jobs growth of between 7,000 and 8,000, exceeding its previous record in 1995 of 6,500.

The Government has come in for criticism recently from Opposition parties on the number of new jobs actually being created compared with those announced. The matter was raised following the delay in the creation of 1,000 jobs which had been announced by American Power Conversions earlier this year.

APC - which had proposed a £40 million investment in Ireland with plant in Gillogue, Co Clare, Drogheda, Co Louth and Castlebar, Co Mayo, and the expansion of its operations in Galway - has said it will decide on the future of its proposals at the end of November. The Rhode Island based company is still in negotiations with IDA Ireland.

Government sources have warned that employment must remain top of the agenda in any negotiations to secure a new national wage agreement following the Programme for Competitiveness and Work. "Unrealistic demands from any quarter will have to be resisted if this rate of job creation is be sustained in the economy," Government sources insist. Employers and trade unions will have to be realistic in their demands, they say.