Drop of 10% in Galway City’s jobless down to growing confidence
A significant decrease of over 10% in the number of people ‘signing on’ in Galway last month compared to the same period last year has been attributed to a growing sense of confidence among the city’s business community.
Figures released by the Central Statistics Office yesterday show that there were 10,076 on the live register in the city last month, compared to 11,233 in January of last year.
While this shows a decrease of 10.3% in the space of 12 months, the monthly figure actually rose slightly (by 1.5%) from the December total of 9,931.
The Galway Chamber of Commerce and Industry says that, while emigration continues to be a factor in the declining jobless rate, it believes there is a growing sense of confidence in the city after five years of recession and austerity.
“There is definitely a bigger spring in people’s step now than there was this time last year,” said Maeve Joyce of the Chamber of Commerce yesterday.
“We had a very successful Business After Hours event at the Westwood Hotel last month. It was very well attended and there was a definite atmosphere of business being discussed and being done.”
She said that the winter storms over the past few weeks had failed to dampen confidence across business sectors that the local economy had turned a corner.
“People are battling against the odds because of issues such as the recent floods in areas such as Salthill and the Spanish Arch, but we are finding that they are really putting their shoulders to the wheel,” said Ms Joyce.
“I think we have seen some pretty optimistic signs in recent weeks, such as the expansion of HP and the opening of a new stem cell research centre at NUI Galway.”
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