State-backed employment has surged to 16,963 in Waterford over the past 11 years with 5,998 extra people at work in Enterprise Ireland and IDA client companies.
The extraordinary jobs growth has been revealed by Waterford Fine Gael Senator John Cummins who said that a further 1,486 state-supported jobs were added in 2022 alone, a 9.6% increase on 2021.
“Employment growth in Enterprise Ireland supported companies in Waterford surged by 15% in 2022," Senator Cummins outlined, "far outstripping the performance of the wider South East region which itself recorded the second fastest growth of any region at 7%.
"The work that Enterprise Ireland do in supporting the development and growth of Irish enterprises in world markets is vitally important and it is very exciting to see such rapid growth in 2022. Collaboration between all stakeholders, particularly SETU is vitally important to ensure we maintain this growth”.
It was also another very strong year for the growth of IDA client companies with a further 503 jobs (+5.6%) added during 2022.
In addition to the jobs which were added during 2022 Waterford also saw some very exciting jobs announcements, which Senator Cummins says will likely only show in 2023 and 2024 as expansion plans are delivered upon.
“There is no question that the added focus of government since the implementation of the South East Action Plan for Jobs has had a transformative effect on the entire county," the Senator continued.
"We have seen just shy of 6,000 additional state supported jobs created since Fine Gael were elected to government in 2011 which has positively impacted the local economy."
Speaking at the launch of Enterprise Ireland’s Annual report last month, the new Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney, said:
"A real positive of today’s results is the regional balance in terms of both new jobs created and total employment. More than 147,000 people in the regions are now employed by Enterprise Ireland client companies, making an enormous contribution to local economies and communities.
"The government’s target to have a record 2.5 million people employed by 2024 has already been exceeded. Enterprise Ireland has also exceeded its own employment target for 2022.
"I firmly believe that with a strong focus on innovation, digitalisation, sustainability and regional development, Enterprise Ireland will continue to enhance their significant contribution to growing and maintaining quality jobs in every region and county in Ireland."
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