Sharp decline in redundancies shows economy is recovering - Minister O'Keeffe

3 November 2010

The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Batt O'Keeffe TD, has said new figures today [Wednesday] showing a sharp decline in redundancies show our economy is recovering.

The number of redundancy claims received by the Department for October was 3,910 - down 40pc on the figure for last October.

'That is the largest drop so far this year when comparing claims received in a given month with the equivalent monthly intake for last year.

'Overall, the trend in redundancy claims remains downward, with a steady month-on-month decrease since June.

'Overall, the cumulative figures for the first 10 months of this year is down 23.3pc on last year's figure of 66,989.

'These trends, allied with our strong export performance, healthy foreign direct investment pipeline and declining unemployment figures, are very encouraging signs of economic recovery,' said Minister O'Keeffe, who is on a trade mission to the Middle East this week with 45 Irish firms.

ENDS

Bernard Mallee, Press Adviser to Minister Batt O'Keeffe, Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, on Tel: +353 1 631 3944, Mobile: +353 87 9173022, Email: bernard.mallee@deti.ie