NEWS


WE TAKE A LOOK AT ALL THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS AFFECTING THE SME SECTOR IN IRELAND


Newsinbrief


National Skills Bulletin reports shortages


Employment opportunities and some skills shortages continue to exist despite the recession, according to the 2010 update to the National Skills Bulletin, the annual review of employment and skills in Ireland produced by the Government-appointed Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN). The report said the shortages relate to a small number of


posts and are confined to specialistswithin an occupation, for example, electrical engineerswith an expertise in high-voltage grids; senior personnel, eg IT project managers; niche areas, for example, telesales with fluency in foreign language; and specific skill mixes, eg ICT professionals with business development skills. Recruiters also continued to report difficulty in filling


specialist roles in the areas of IT, sales, health, finance, engineering and management, despite the decline in the overall number of advertised vacancies. During 2009, employment decreased inmost sectors of the


economy, the EGFSN report showed, with the greatest decline recorded in construction,manufacturing, agriculture, wholesale and retail.


Manufacturing rebound loses momentum


Output from the Irish manufacturing industry continued to rise


during June, but fell to its slowest rate in fourmonths, suggesting that the rebound evident in the sector recently has lost somemomentum. The closelywatchedNCBPurchasingManagers’ Index (PMI) for the


Manufacturing Sector dropped to 51.8 in June, from 54.1 in the previous month, signalling the weakest strengthening in business conditions in the sector seen during the past fourmonths of expansion. While Irish manufacturing production increased for the fourth


consecutivemonth in June, and at amarked pace, the rate of growth eased to the weakest it has been in fourmonths. According to respondents, rising new business was themain factor


driving output growth in June.However, overall newbusiness grewat a much weaker rate than new export orders, suggesting that the rise was driven by external demand.


Improvements in the motor trade


Over 10,000more cars have been sold so far this year than in the whole of last year, greatly assisted by the Government scrappage scheme, according to the Society for the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI). Newcars sales during the first sixmonths of 2010 also generated


anextra€60mfor theExchequerwhencomparedtothe sameperiod in 2009, SIMI said. While 46,715 newcarswere sold during the January–June period


in 2009, this same period in 2010 has seen total sales of newcars hit 67,846 units, with the result that €460m in VAT and vehicle registration tax has been collected for theExchequer. TheSIMI figures showedthat theVolkswagenGolfwas themost


popularmakeofnewcar soldinIrelandduring June,with430units sold, followed by the Skoda Octavia (427 units), the Ford Focus (417) and theNissanQuashqai (331).


8OWNER MANAGER VOL 3 ISSUE 3 2010


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