Further sign of slowing economy as 2,387 workers laid off in month

Almost 2,400 workers lost their jobs last month, according to Government figures released yesterday.

Redundancy statistics from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment show that 2,387 workers were laid off during the month. This was 15 per cent ahead of the 2,077 job losses that the department recorded in November last year.

The figures also show that the number of redundancies in the first 11 months of 2007 surpassed the total for all of last year.

By the end of last month, the number of redundancies for the year-to-date total stood at 23,761, that is 77 more than the 23,684 recorded for 2006 as a whole.

In the 11 months from the beginning of January to the end of November last year, 21,603 workers last their jobs, which means that the total for the year thus far is running at 10 per cent ahead of 2006. The news is further evidence of a weakening economy. Last month the Central Statistics Office Quarterly National Household Survey, regarded as the most accurate guide to the size of the Republic's labour force, showed that the rate at which job numbers are growing in the State slowed to 3.3 per cent in August-June, from 3.9 per cent a year earlier.

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment figures released yesterday deal with the number of jobs actually lost during the month, rather than redundancies that are planned but not yet completed.

They do not show which employers or which sectors laid people off during the month.

The department released the figures as it emerged yesterday that multinational pharmaceutical player, Abbot, plans to lay off 500 people in Galway.