A record 30,800 jobs were created in the manufacturing, international trade and international financial services sectors last year, according to a recent Forfas employment survey. The survey found that 62 per cent of these positions were in foreign-owned companies.

When job losses were taken into account, there was a net increase of 15,872 permanent full-time jobs, the highest increase on record, resulted from the creation of additional jobs combined with a decline in the numbers of jobs lost. Last year was the fourth in a row during which job creation increased and job losses declined. The number of jobs lost, 14,937, is the lowest in ten years. The survey found that since 1988, permanent employment in foreign-owned companies has grown by 39,045 (44.4%) while Irish companies account for 16,592 (14.6%) of new jobs over the same period. Employment in foreign-owned companies now accounts for 50 per cent of total employment in manufacturing and internationally traded and financial services.

Part-time, temporary and short-term contract employment increased by 17.2 per cent to 31,652 jobs in 1997, with the most rapid growth occurring in foreign-owned companies. Donegal is the only region which showed no net increase in permanent employment, while the east of the country accounts for 69 per cent of all new jobs. Total employment in Ireland increased by 4.2 per cent in 1997 compared with an EU average on 0.6 per cent. The rate of growth in employment in all services activities in Ireland has been higher than in the US and in any other EU country.