Business and Finance News

Jobs growth in the Irish economy slowed sharply in the fourth quarter of 2015 with just under 5,000 jobs added in the period. The CSO reported today that there was an annual increase in employment of 2.3% or 44,100 in the year to the fourth quarter of 2015, bringing total employment to 1,983,000. On a seasonally adjusted basis, employment increased by 4,700 (+0.2%) over the previous quarter. This follows on from a seasonally adjusted increase in employment of 9,600 (+0.5%) in Q3 2015.

Global sea levels rose faster in the 20th century than in any of the other 27 in 2,800 years, according to a Rutgers University-led study published Monday in the United States. Moreover, without global warming, global sea levels would have risen by les…

Resumption of trade and investment talks between the European Union (EU) and the United States (US) prompted a protest against the planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement with representatives of German SMEs (small and me…

Enda Kenny, taoiseach, at the weekend speaking in Castlebar, his hometown in Western Ireland, made a gaffe by describing locals who don’t share his sunny optimism about the Irish economy as “All-Ireland champion whingers.” After 40 years in national po…

This week Ray Dalio, the founder of the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, which has some $155bn in funds under management, said that current unconventional efforts to raise economic growth through bond buying in the markets, which is called quantitative easing or more commonly money printing, have lost their potency and central banks may have to resort to radical measures such as “helicopter money.” On Thursday the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) — a think tank for 34 mainly developed country governments — said governments must act “urgently” and “collectively” to raise spending in advanced economies as it cut its growth forecasts against a backdrop falling trade and market turmoil. The OECD reduced growth estimates for every member of the G7 group of leading industrial nations — the US, Japan, Germany, France, UK, and Canada.

Irish General Election: “The road to power is paved with hypocrisy and casualties. Never regret,” says the Frank Underwood character, played by Kevin Spacey in the American version of ‘House of Cards.’ On 9 March 2011, Enda Kenny set a high bar for his new government on honesty but high principle soon gave way to what has become conventional in modern times: pervasive spin — a convenient euphemism for manipulation and lies.

In recent days we have had data which show weak late 2015 growth or shrinkage in the Euro Area and Japan, while last month it was reported that the US economy grew at an annualised rate of 0.7% in the final three months of the 2015. Coupled with the ec…

For a second time in a quarter century returning skilled Irish emigrants are seen as essential to fill a skills gaps in the workforce — again it’s easier than addressing the enduring skills gap at home.

Seasonally adjusted GDP rose by 0.3% in both the Euro Area (EA19) and the EU28 during the fourth quarter of 2015, compared with the previous quarter, according to a flash estimate published Friday by Eurostat, the statistics office of the European Union.

“Let’s keep the recovery going” is the Fine Gael slogan of the general election but apart from hoping that prayer or luck would end the current turmoil on global markets, Fine Gael does not say how it would respond to a dip in growth in key markets bec…