The Department of Jobs has described as "highly misleading" a report by the Nevin Economic Research Institute suggesting the State's economic recovery was almost exclusively concentrated in Dublin and the mid east region.
In its latest economic outlook, the union-backed think tank said 94 per cent of new jobs created in the economy last year were in Dublin and its hinterland.
At the same time, it claimed employment growth had declined in the West and in the Border regions, and had stagnated in the southwest (Cork and Kerry).
The institute said the Government’s narrative of recovery was masking sharp regional differences.
However, the Department of Jobs has taken issue with the figures used in the report.
“For example, in 2014, jobs in the South East grew by 7,400 (or 25 per cent of the overall jobs growth), and in the Midlands by 2,600 (or 9 per cent of the overall jobs growth),” a department spokesman said.
“Since the Action Plan for Jobs was launched in 2012, every region of the country has grown in employment. The fastest growing region over that time has been the South East, not Dublin or Cork. Unemployment is falling in every county and in every region of the country.”
“However the Government recognises that some regions are growing faster than others. That is why we are putting in place Regional Enterprise Plans to accelerate employment in every region of the country,” he added.
A spokesman for the institute expressed surprise at the Government reaction, insisting the figures had been obtained from official data generated by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The institute’s report also suggested divergent trends reflected a process of internal migration for economic purposes towards the east coast, which was resulting in pent-up pressure on housing and rents in the capital.
It forecast economic growth of 3.4 per cent in gross domestic product (GDP) terms this year, marginally declining to 3.1 per cent in 2016. It predicted unemployment would fall to 10 per cent in 2015 and to 9.1 per cent next year.
