More than 32,000 jobs lost in 2008

More than 4,600 people were made redundant in October, with in excess of 32,000 jobs lost since the start of the year new figures from the Department of Enterprise have shown.

Some 4,644 jobs were lost across the country last month over a range of industries. To date, some 32,076
 redundancies have been announced.

The figures add up to an average of about 725 jobs lost each week, with October's figure representing an increase of 114 per cent compared to the same month last year.

The latest figures follow a steady increase in the number of jobs lost in recent months. In September, the number of redundancies received under the statutory scheme reached 3,994.

Construction and manufacturing industries have been among among the hardest hit, recording more than half of the redundancies in the 10 months to October 2008. Metal manufacturing and engineering industries lost 1,266 jobs, while other manufacturing industries lost 7,004, and building and civil engineering firms shed 8,951.

More than a third of the jobs were lost in the services sector, with 9,907 jobs going in the first 10 months of 2008.
Small firms lobby group Isme warned that the labour market is in danger of "imploding", with Isme chief executive, Mark Fielding, describing the jobs market as being "in crisis". He called for the suspension of increases awarded under the national pay deal.

"The situation will continue to get worse unless serious action is taken to address the cost environment in which businesses operate. It is absolutely incredible that at a time when the country is in its worst recession in a century that we reward ourselves with a 6.5per cent pay increase, a ludicrous situation," he said.

In September, the Live register figures hit their highest level in almost 10 years, with an extra 80,000 people signing o compared to a year earlier.