Number of people out of work in Mayo has declined by 11.6%

THE number of people out of work in Mayo has declined by 11.6% in the last year, the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Michael Ring, has said.

Minister Ring said: “There are 48,100 more people at work since this time last year. Our enterprise-based economy is now creating over 900 jobs a week. The Action Plan for Rural Development is committed to ensuring that the economic recovery is felt throughout Ireland and the creation of rural jobs is vital in order to achieve this.

“I am very pleased to see this strong level of job creation delivered for Mayo by government-backed companies. I am delighted to announce that the number of people in the live register in Mayo has now decreased by 11.6% in the last year. There has been a 40% decrease in the local live register since the introduction of the Action plan for Jobs in 2012.

“This is great news. Our recovery is being felt right across Ireland. 9 out of every 10 new jobs created in the last year were outside Dublin. IDA statistics show the strength and resilience of FDI in regional locations. There were 99 regional investments by IDA clients in 2017. Overall, IDA clients based outside of Dublin and the Mid-East account for 52% of total IDA client employment.

“Fine Gael’s priority is to support companies here in Mayo to continue to build on this strong job creation performance. The National Planning framework will be unveiled in the coming weeks; this is the first real joined–up plan and investment strategy to transform our country over the decades to come – showing that we have an evidence-based, coordinated plan of what kind of country and society we want and how to get there.

“I have been tasked with heading up a new department which is focused on rural communities and from that perspective I have engaged with Minister Murphy to try to ensure that this strategy delivers for rural Ireland. I expect that my concerns and those of my rural colleagues in Government will be addressed in the final draft.

“Over 19,000 jobs were created across Ireland by companies supported by Enterprise Ireland in 2017.

“Job creation was evenly spread across the country, with every county seeing job increases.

“We are moving towards full employment and we will ensure that all parts of Ireland can share in our prosperity and economic growth, including here in Mayo.”