The number of net jobs created by clients of Enterprise Ireland has more than halved over the last two years, as Brexit uncertainty and skills shortages hit employers in Ireland.

Unveiling its 2019 end-of-year review on Tuesday, Enterprise Ireland said its client companies had created just over 4,700 net jobs (total new jobs created minus job losses) in 2019, which is down 47% on the 8,920 net jobs created in 2019 and less than half the 10,300 net jobs created in 2017.

Job creation figures are down

Enterprise Ireland said its client companies had created a total of just under 17,000 new jobs last year – which is down 4% on the 18,650 jobs created in 2018. And when compared with 2017, the figures for job creation in 2019 are down 12%.

At the same time as job creation is slowing, job losses are on the rise. Enterprise Ireland’s year-end report shows its client companies let go of almost 12,265 jobs in 2019, which is a very sharp rise of 26% when compared with the 9,730 jobs lost by its clients in 2018. When compared with 2017 figures, job losses in 2019 were 36% higher.

This means just over 4,700 net jobs were created in Ireland when new positions are measured against job losses.

Many companies were facing challenges attracting talent, particularly in the SME sector

Enterprise Ireland chief executive Julie Sinnamon blamed the slowing job creation and higher rate of job losses on the acute uncertainty created last year by the threat of a no-deal Brexit.

Sinnamon also said many companies were facing challenges attracting talent, particularly in the SME sector.

The Enterprise Ireland chief also said the figures were affected by the recent job losses at Bord na Móna, as well as the layoffs announced by Irish beef factories during the farmer protests this year.

Record high

In total, almost 220,000 people are now employed by client companies of Enterprise Ireland, which is a record high.

In the food sector, Sinnamon said job creation was pretty flat, with a 1% increase in jobs across the sector.

While the food industry remains the largest sector of employment in Irish business, a number of areas like the beef industry and the consumer foods sector were negatively impacted by Brexit.