Enterprise Base. 2.2.1 County Longford POPULATION 129,643 UNEMPLOYMENT RATE BY COUNTY LONGFORD 19.6% WESTMEATH 15.9% however approximately 12% are employed, 42% are unemployed and of these approximately 25% are long term unemployed. In relation to the educational levels of learners, on average 40% have NFQ Level 3 or less. LWETB spans ages from 15 to 90 with a predominate population in the 25-44 category. 10% of learners have identified themselves as persons with a disability and the majority of these learners engage in part-time provision courses. Learners participate in a diverse range of subject areas with the largest cohort engaging in entry level/progression focussed programmes, in particular the adult literacy programmes which are not mutually exclusive but also provide a progression pathway from part-time non-accredited/entry level to full-time QQI Level 6 programmes. County Longford is the second smallest county in Ireland. Longford Town is the county town with a population of 10,008 (2016), the other main towns include Edgeworthstown, Granard, Ballymahon, Lanesboro and Newtownforbes. Active Enterprises: Approximately 93% of enterprise in Co Longford have under 10 employees and only 1.2% employ over 250 employees: 44% of persons engaged are in the under 10 employees, while 35.4% are engaged in the 20-249 size. Strategic Performance Agreement 2018 – 2020 3 Longford and Westmeath Education and Training Board The most significant sectoral employment is in Commerce and Trade, then Professional Services. Longford Town is a centre of employment for those involved in Wholesale, Retail Trade, Transportation and Storage, Accommodation and Food Service, while the North East and South West have concentrations of employment in Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing is in the North East and South West. In relation to employment within County Longford it is notable that a significant number of workers travel from other counties for work every day. Of those workers in Longford who commute approximately 40% of those are commuting to either Dublin City or Leitrim and are employed in Information and Communication, Financial, Real Estate, Professional, administration and support service activities).
Enterprise Base. The Limerick and Clare region constitutes one of the finest environments for the creation of jobs. In the last two years, the Mid-West region benefited from 17 FDI announcements outperforming the rest of the country. The main employment sector in Limerick and Clare remains the services sector, followed by commerce and trade and manufacturing industries. In 2016, small and medium enterprises represented 92% of active enterprises in the Mid-West, accounting for 36% of persons in employment in the business economy. The Regional Skills Forum has identified the current strengths and future growth prospects in the regional economy in bio-technology, medical technology, ICT, aerospace, tourism, agri-business and logistics. The Forum has also identified skills clusters in Hospitality, Engineering, Film and ICT. These employer led skills clusters identify current and future skills needs with the support of education and training providers. Table 2 Deprivation Score at Electoral Division Level ED Kilkee Ennis 2 Urban Kilrush Rathkeale Ballynanty Galvone B Xxxx X 2016 Relative Deprivation Index - 13.0 - 17.8 - 17.9 - 21.7 - 27.0 - 32.8 - 35.7 4
Enterprise Base. Cork has a broad enterprise sector with significant activity in Pharmaceutical and Biopharma manufacturing, medical devices, ICT (hardware and services), food and drink processing, internationally traded services, tourism, marine activity, mariculture, forestry and agriculture. The service sector, in particular health and care related services, also features strongly in the region. The region is extremely diverse in terms of the type and scale of enterprises to be found in localities. The pharmaceutical, biopharma and medical device companies, including Novartis, GSK, Pfizer, Lilly, Boston Scientific, Stryker, PMD Solutions, AdventaMed, Millipore, Novartis and Xxxxxxx, are located largely within the greater Cork harbour area. The IT sector, while having a significant presence within the greater Cork City area (Apple, EMC, VMWare, Dell are all located in there), is more broadly spread, with a lot of smaller IT companies, largely in the IT service sector, located across the county. Agriculture and related food industries, both large scale and smaller, artisan food producers, provide significant employment across the region, and are a growing sector. Hospitality and Tourism, with the wealth of opportunities presented by Cork’s location on the Wild Atlantic Way and the Ancient East tourist offerings, and the appeal of both Cobh and Spike Island, are major employers and are evidencing strong growth following improvement in the national economic situation. The breakdown of employment across the county is provided in the diagram below. The diversity of the region is further illustrated by the categorisation of employers/enterprises when categorised by workforce size, with over half of the workforce employed in companies/enterprises with less than 50 employees, and almost one third of the workforce are engaged in enterprises with less than ten employees. Detailed Breakdown of Employment Agriculture Industry Construction Wholesale & retail Transport Accom & food ICT Finance etc. Prof services Admin & support PAD Education Health Other/Not Stated 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 35,000 40,000
