CSO figures released today show a pick-up in the pace of employment growth with an additional 47,000 people finding jobs in the last year. However, Dublin accounted for 57% of these, and its dominance is increasing.

Commenting on the figures Dr. John McCartney, Director of Research at Savills, said;

“The focus on Dublin reflects the fact that some of Ireland’s big growth industries are services which tend to locate in cities. For example ICT grew by 4.2% it the last 12 months.”

The data also shows that administration and support services, an area that suffered severe cutbacks during the recession, has rebounded very strongly with 9.8% jobs growth in the last year.

“The growth of these service industries clearly impacts on the demand for office accommodation as the average office worker in Dublin accounts for around 12.1 sq m of space. 18 months ago there were concerns that we weren’t building enough new office blocks to meet this demand but, in the meantime, development activity has begun to respond. Currently there are around 40 office projects onsite and under construction in Dublin and these alone could supply enough space for around 25,000 workers”.

Partly reflecting the pick-up in office building activity construction employment has risen by 7.8% in the last year.