THE NUMBER of job cuts across the country has continued to grow with 350 redundancies announced every day last month, according to official figures.

Figures released by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment reveal the number of redundancies this year has now reached 35,925, an increase of 166 per cent from the same period in 2008.

According to the statistics, almost 49 per cent of job losses were in construction and manufacturing, and 34 per cent were in the services sector.

In May, job losses reached the highest levels seen this year with 8,042 staff losing their jobs.

March had previously held the worst record with 7,744 losses.

The building and civil engineering sector was the most affected industry last month with 1,781 job losses, followed by manufacturing with 1,740 redundancies.

The statistics also show that 45.58 per cent more male staff lost their job compared to female employees in May.

Mark Fielding, chief executive of the Irish Small Medium Enterprises Association (Isme), said small businesses were prepared for further losses.

“The situation has already gone beyond a crisis as small business employers are already anticipating a further 70,000 job losses over the next three months.

“We urgently require a Government with a coherent action plan that can be implemented with confidence.

“The plan needs to prioritise employment, with incentives for business to maintain jobs. The time for platitudes and empty promises is long past; we now need concrete actions.”

The group said if the current figures continued the 40,000 redundancies of 2008 would be exceeded by the end of June.

Isme added that there were more job cuts in May than in the entire year of 1996.