Careers and Jobs

It seems people in Ireland have been affected by the numerous job loss announcements and consumer confidence has slipped back in February. Fear of job loss is making many Irish tighten the belts. The struggling US economy has put Irish workers with US multinationals on alert.

Job loss announcements in February have affected most sectors and include Arnotts, Allergan, Jacobs, Grove Turkeys and Sercom Solutions. There is also the shadow over SR Technics and the whole construction sector.

It certainly does not seem to get any brighter for the Construction Sector. The latest report from Hook & MacDonald indicates that house building will fall further next year to almost 60% less than the 2006 record. This will mean a 38% to 48,000 completions this year.

I was speaking to a friend last week who indicated that his friend had negative equity on a house he bought 18 months previously. I read the papers and watch the news stories but this is when the demise of the sector really hit home. Ok there have been some positive announcement for the sector such as Arnotts but generally speaking it has been quite grim

Can infrastructure projects and commercial projects soften the blow for the construction sector?

I guess only time will tell.

Arnotts has announced that it will make 600 retail staff redundant. This is a huge blow for the staff and their families. Although the announcement was expected the numbers affected are greater that expected.

Voluntary redundancy will be offered but with 600 of the 950 staff need I guess they all will not be voluntary. These staff are facing a tough job market.

There are couple of points that are being under emphasised in most reports.

a) The store will employee 1200 staff when it reopens in 3 years time. Ok this is no consolation for the staff losing their jobs.

b) This is a 750 million redevelopment project so I guess it will support a struggling construction sector. I guess one workers pain is another workers gain.

Lets hope the staff affected are well looked after in their redundancy package and the proper supports are put in place for them