40% of SME’s in Ireland have cut staff
With all the focus on the large MNC’s we sometimes forget about the smaller fish – the SME’s. These companies make up a great part of the employment figures in Ireland thus combined play an important role in the employment landscape in Ireland. Worryingly 40% of SME’s have cut staff in the last 3 months with only 15% indicating that they employed new staff. This survey which talked to 400 companies highlights the difficult trading conditions for SME firms. So were are the big casualties – Construction Sector related companies, followed by Distribution Sector related companies and then Manufacturing Sector related companies.
This bad news though is not confined to Ireland as reports suggest that the dreaded “R” word is evident in 3 other regions across Europe – Italy, France and Germany.