Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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49. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of jobs created and lost in the private sector in the past two years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22129/13]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department compiles data on employment in companies supported by the enterprise development agencies: Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, Shannon Development and the County and City Enterprise Boards.

Table 1 below sets out the overall figures for full-time jobs created and lost in client companies of the agencies in 2011 and 2012. Overall, the agency-supported companies created 16,652 net full-time jobs between them over the last two years.

2012 was a particularly good year for job creation by the agencies’ clients, with IDA companies creating a total of 5,638 net new full time jobs and a further 932 part time jobs last year. The IDA client base in Ireland now employs 136,505 people on a full time basis, a level not seen since before the global financial crisis began in 2008.

Clients of Enterprise Ireland created 3,338 net new full time jobs in 2012. Enterprise Ireland companies now employ 145,460 people on a full time basis, along with approximately 24,000 part-time jobs.

Between them, IDA and Enterprise Ireland client companies have been creating in the region of 1,000 additional jobs per month since the Government came into office. This is in stark contrast to the 45,000 jobs which were lost over the period 2008-2010 inclusive in the agencies’ client base.

Shannon Development client companies support approximately 6,500 full and part-time jobs. The County and City Enterprise Boards support companies that employ in the region of 33,400 jobs. The agency-supported companies also indirectly support a significant level of further employment throughout the economy.

In the wider economy, we have seen a stabilisation in jobs numbers in the last six months of 2012. The Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) for Quarter 4 of 2012 showed the first annual increase in employment since the middle of 2008.

While we are not complacent about this improvement, it demonstrates that the path the Government is following of re-building an economy based on enterprise, innovation and exports is paying off.

Table 1 - Full-Time Job Gains and Losses in enterprise agencies supported companies