Job losses in Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal are rising by 60 per cent each year, mainly in the region's traditional clothing and textile industry, according to the Irish Business and Employers' Confederation (IBEC).
Announcing 1,500 jobs losses since January 2002, in IBEC member companies in the three counties, the confederation said urgent investment in education and infrastructure was now needed if there was to be a "viable future for the region".
Worst hit by the redundancies was Donegal, where about 80 per cent of the job losses were located. Next was Sligo which accounted for 13.3 per cent and Leitrim which accounted for 6.7 per cent.
According to IBEC the traditional manufacturing sector is being the most severely affected, and employees with low skill bases and low educational qualifications are most likely to be made redundant. Some 85 per cent of employees who were let go in the past two years had just junior or leaving certificate education.
Commenting on the figures Mr Oliver Haslette, president of IBEC North West, predicted the region's "economic cream will be lost due to lack of an educated workforce.
"It is obvious that there is a need to attract high value-added industries coupled with a strategy to invest in technology and research & development to ensure viability for the region."
But he warned that "new" industries required a new emphasis to be placed on the value of third-level education.
"There is a need for companies to develop clear strategic thinking in order to respond to changing economic challenges.
"Companies need to move up the value-added chain and invest in research and development. Entrepreneurial and innovative activity needs to be championed in the region. Companies need to seek to build distinctive capabilities to 'pull' investment and develop innovation.
However the Government had allowed peripheral areas like the North West to take the bulk of the shortfall in relation to infrastructure. Mr Haslette concluded: "People have been carried away by the Celtic Tiger and never thought they would be without a job, or that their company might close. The North West region is on a very slippery slope and businesses must take notice. The situation cannot be allowed get any worse".
The IDA's regional manager in the North West Mr Joe McHugh said the challenge for the region was to manage the changeover from traditional low skill, low technology manufacturing to high skill, high value industry.
Mr McHugh said there was "no doubt" that there had been significant job losses, even in recent announcements from clothing firms such as Clubman Omega in Donegal. The IDA strategy was to manage this change. He instanced 2002 as the first year in recent years where there was a net gain, of 81, in numbers of new jobs in Donegal.
Mr McHugh said MBNA and Eaton in Carrick-on-Shannon in Co Leitrim, as well as Abott in Sligo which has plants in place or planned for Sligo, Cavan and Longford were examples of high value job providers.
But he acknowledged that infrastructure, in terms of road and broadband access, needed to be accelerated.
