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Employment Trends in Co. Mayo and the Western Region

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The WDC recently made a presentation about employment trends in Mayo and the Western Region at an Education, Training and Jobseekers Expo held in Kiltimagh.   We outlined the current employment profile of Mayo and the Western Region as well as national trends in job vacancies and skill shortages.

  • Wholesale and retail, Industry, Health and Agriculture are the largest employment sectors in Co. Mayo (Census 2011).
  • Agency assisted companies (companies who have received assistance from EI, IDA or Udarás na Gaeltachta) employed 8,300 people in the county in 2013 and Modern Manufacturing and Agri-food are its largest assisted employment sectors (Forfás Annual Employment Survey 2013).
  • All agency assisted sectors (except Agri-food) showed stronger employment growth in Mayo between 2012 and 2013 than the state average.
  • In the Western Region, Wholesale and retail, Industry, Health, Agriculture, Education and Accommodation and food service are the largest employment sectors in 2014 (QNHS, Q1 2014).
  • Agriculture, Wholesale and retail, Professional, scientific and technical activities, Accommodation and food service and Construction showed employment growth in the region over the past year. Industry, Education and Health showed the largest declines.
  • Life sciences, ICT, engineering, food, green economy, care, tourism and the creative sector are among the sectors predicted to grow in the Western Region.

Download the presentation here http://www.wdc.ie/publications/reports-and-papers/

Pauline White

Business Demography

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The WDC has just published its analysis of the CSO Business Demography data (2011) which shows there were nearly 31,000 active enterprises operating in the Western Region. At 0.057 the average number of enterprises per working age person in the region was lower than that in the rest of the state (0.062).

Overall the Western Region’s enterprise base was more significantly damaged by the recession than elsewhere. Between 2006 and 2011 the decline in enterprise numbers in the Western Region was nearly twice that in the rest of the state (-18.4% compared with -9.8%).  The region’s largest enterprise sectors experienced the greatest declines.

Some sectors did show growth. Enterprise numbers in ‘education’, ‘information and communications’, ‘real estate’ and ‘professional, scientific and technical activities’ increased. While growth in these knowledge intensive sectors is very welcome, they continue to be less important to the region’s enterprise profile.

The Western Region has a less diverse enterprise profile than the rest of the state. It has a higher share of enterprises in sectors that mainly serve local, domestic or tourist markets, while knowledge intensive services account for a lower share of the region’s businesses. The region’s more urban counties tend to have greater enterprise diversity, with rural counties’ economies more concentrated by sector.

A WDC Insights summary or a more detailed WDC Report on the Business Demography data can be downloaded from http://www.wdc.ie/publications/reports-and-papers/

Pauline White

Note: This report was completed in late July, prior to the very recent publication of the data for 2012. The WDC’s analysis of the 2012 Business Demography data will be published soon.