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Rich nations must help workers adapt to automation, says OECD Robots and computers threaten 14% of existing jobs over the next 20 years, so countries must retrain workers for a transformed labour market, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has warned today. In a report, the OECD estimates that in addition to the destruction […]
Read MorePrize Bonds sales reach €574m in 2018 as fund grows to €3.4 billion The Prize Bond Company has reported gross sales of €574m, the second highest year on record after sales of €567m in 2017 and €670m in 2016. The Prize Bond Company, which administers prize bonds on behalf of the National Treasury Management Agency, […]
Read More90.3% of new SME lending from top three lenders – Central Bank report A new report on lending to small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) shows that credit demand remains low, while over 90% of new lending comes from the main three lenders here – AIB, Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank. The Central Bank’s […]
Read MoreRecord number of women in workforce A record number of women were in the workforce last year, according to the latest figures from Eurostat, with 78,000 more women at work than in 2014. Overall, there was in excess of 804,700 women in the labour market, resulting in a participation rate of 77.2%, up from 72.5% […]
Read MoreNo State spending spree: expenditure here stands at lowest share of GDP in the eurozone Data released by Eurostat, the statistics arm of the EU, shows that Government spending here as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) is the lowest in the eurozone by a long way. At 25.7pc, it comes in well below […]
Read MoreApartments on the rise as house-building slows The number of apartments built here increased 64pc in the first three months of the year, driven by investment from so-called ‘cuckoo funds’. At the same time there has been a slow-down in the pace of new house-building, which has clocked up the slowest increase since 2013. The […]
Read MoreEU debt levels up in 2018 but debt-to-GDP ratio down Government debt levels rose in the European Union last year, according to Eurostat, but economic expansion in the region pushed the overall debt-to-GDP ratio down. The countries that use the euro had a combined debt of €9.86 trillion in 2018, up €99 billion (1%) year-on-year. […]
Read MoreLess than half of all employees have a private pension – CSO Less than half of all employees in Ireland were saving towards a pension last year, according to the Central Statistics Office. Its survey of pension coverage in the third quarter of 2018 found that 47.1% of all people in employment were contributing towards […]
Read MoreHousing completions up by over a fifth in first three months Housing completions were up by over a fifth in the first three months of 2019, according to Goodbody’s Housebuilding Tracker. It uses Building Energy Regulation (BER) data to compile its figures. The official data tracks electricity connection figures. According to Goodbody’s figures, 4,255 residential […]
Read MoreGovernment’s €300m Brexit funding scheme for SMEs opens Small and medium sized businesses here, as well as farmers, can now apply for loans under the Government’s Future Loan Scheme. The initiative aims to support strategic long-term investment in the post-Brexit environment where financing options may be restricted. Money borrowed can be use for a variety […]
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