In April ISME, Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association, predicted that up to 20,000 industrial jobs could be lost before the end of the year as small companies faced what it described as "a crisis of confidence". In a survey carried out for ISME, 55% of manufacturing companies stated they expected a downturn over the next year. One third of manufacturing companies responded by saying they expected employee numbers to drop while some 37% of respondents reported that they employed fewer staff than this time last year. This compares to a figure of 18% of firms which stated they had increased employee numbers. When one considers that 28% – more than one in four companies – have had cancellations of orders in recent months, ISME could not be accused of being overly pessimistic in its predictions.