Ireland’s development agency IDA Ireland announced this week that more than 5,000 new jobs were created in the first six months of 2012 in the face of mounting global competition. Falling office rents, energy prices and labor costs are playing a key role.
The agency said this morning that an increase in capital intensive projects will provide a boost to the local construction industry.
The 2012 IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook placed Ireland at No 1 in the world for skilled labour.
DA’s 2011 Annual Report, released today, shows there are now almost 146,000 people working directly in more than 1,000 IDA client companies. The year 2011 saw the creation of more than 13,000 new jobs with the best net jobs increase since 2002 of more than 6,000. The agency said these results position IDA to achieve its 2010-2014 targets as outlined in IDA’s Horizon 2020 strategy.
The 5,000 jobs announced are in a range of sectors, including IT, life sciences, digital media and international financial services. The investments have been won despite a notable increase in competition from other jurisdictions and the challenging global economic environment. Among the companies announcing the largest projects were PayPal, Apple and Mylan.
There has been a notable increase in capital intensive projects in recent times, particularly in the pharmaceutical and ICT areas. A number of recent investments have commenced or will shortly commence, leading to the construction of more than 1,500,000 sq feet of new buildings, giving a much-needed boost to the construction industry.
Despite the global challenge of patent expiry in the pharmaceutical sector, Ireland continues to perform strongly in the sector, targeting both the pharmaceutical and the biopharmaceutical segments, in particular. Recent announcements have included Eli Lilly, Amgen, Allergan, Mylan and Abbott.
IDA is confident of securing, in the medium-term, significant investments that will require large-scale office space. While there is currently an adequate supply of office space in the Dublin area, the property sector needs to start planning for future demand. Availability of suitable modern office space, of scale, is strategically important for winning substantial projects. IDA has already held discussions with NAMA on providing solutions to meet this future demand.
