Castlebar, Portlaoise, Sligo, Mullingar, Kilkenny, Letterkenny. These six towns have most to fear from the public sector pay cuts just announced by Brian Lenihan. The reason? The proportion of workers employed in the public sector – around 40% in each of these towns, according to CSO data from the 2006 Census (see Table 1).
Table 1: Public sector employment by town/city, 2006
Percentage of workers employed in the public sector* | |
Castlebar | 43.87 |
Portlaoise | 43.37 |
Sligo | 41.47 |
Mullingar | 41.35 |
Kilkenny | 40.57 |
Letterkenny | 39.89 |
Tralee | 37.72 |
Limerick city | 37.24 |
Tullamore | 36.21 |
Athlone | 35.68 |
Ennis | 35.21 |
Navan | 35.15 |
Clonmel | 33.15 |
Wexford | 30.96 |
Cork city | 30.50 |
Naas | 30.46 |
Carlow | 29.84 |
Galway city | 29.27 |
Drogheda | 29.26 |
Swords | 29.22 |
Dublin city | 28.26 |
Dundalk | 28.12 |
Waterford city | 27.40 |
Bray | 25.46 |
Killarney | 22.95 |
Newbridge | 17.26 |
Leixlip | 8.95 |
Already, the impact of the earlier pension levy is being felt by retailers and service providers. Over 50 retail units are currently vacant in Sligo city; with a similar number vacant or closed in Mullingar. Letterkenny and Sligo are additionally affected by cross-border shopping. Retail associations in Castlebar, Portlaoise and Kilkenny are beginning to highlight the difficulties they face, with pleas for local support. Yet, the dependence of these and other towns – Tralee, Limerick, and indeed Tullamore – on public sector employment mean that additional pay cuts will have specific and harsh impacts at very local scales.
Mary Gilmartin
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* Note to Table 1: Draws from industrial categories public administration and defence, education, health and social work. A small proportion of workers in each of these categories are not employed in the public sector (e.g. veterinary activities), but the majority – teachers, gardai, defence forces, public adminstration, health workers – are.
Calculated from CSO (with ESRI) 2009. Census 2006: A Profile of Working Population of Large Towns.
December 10, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Surely this will protect these towns, since they are less exposed to unemployment driven by the construction downturn. Have rents in these towns not dropped considerably?
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This will protect these towns – at least they all have jobs and a certain amount of money to spend, even if it has been reduced.
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