2014 plan aims to build on major progress in jobs market over past two
years
Particular focus on entrepreneurship as two thirds of all new jobs created
by start-up businesses
27 February 2014
The Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and
Innovation today (Thursday) published the Action Plan for Jobs 2014, the
third annual instalment in the Government plan aimed at building a
sustainable growing economy and creating jobs.
The Plan builds on the more than 500 measures already implemented through
Action Plan for Jobs 2012 and 2013, and contains 385 actions to be
implemented by all 16 Government Departments and 46 Agencies. Building on
the 2013 Plan three new Disruptive Reform topics have been targeted in the
areas of Entrepreneurship, Winning Overseas and Manufacturing.
The 2014 Plan aims to build on the significant progress which has occurred
in job-creation since the first Action Plan was launched in February 2012,
with more than 58,000 extra jobs added in the year to September 2013.
According to Live Register figures, the unemployment rate has declined for
19 consecutive months, and has gone from 15.1% in February 2012 to 12.3% in
January 2014.
Measures to be implemented during 2014 include:
1. Entrepreneurship – a county-based public competition to find the best
entrepreneur in Ireland with €2million in funding for awards; an
Entrepreneurial PhD programme to train SFI scientists to launch their own
businesses; 31 new Local Enterprise Offices to drive start-ups across the
country and a review of tax supports for entrepreneurs to see if they can
be improved or simplified
2. FDI – 10,000 additional jobs to be created through recruitment of extra
staff for IDA Ireland overseas, additional jobs over and above existing
strategies to be created in multinational companies in Ireland within 5
years; IDA to focus on new areas of growth including the ‘internet of
things’
3. Manufacturing – as part of a plan to create 40,000 additional
manufacturing jobs by 2020, a programme of new measures to support
productivity improvements and higher levels of R&D in Irish and
multinational manufacturing businesses
4. Agencies – IDA, Enterprise Ireland and the new Local Enterprise Offices
will together support a total of 30,500 direct new jobs during 2014.
Enterprise Ireland clients to target €17.5billion in exports in 2014
5. Competitiveness – Ireland’s competitiveness has improved steadily since
the Action Plan for Jobs process was first launched, going from 24th in the
IMD world competitiveness rankings in 2011 to 20th in 2012 and 17th in 2013
– measures to continue this drive include a new system of quarterly
reporting to the Cabinet Committee on competitiveness issues and action on
areas affecting business; measures on skills including 6000 Momentum
places; reduced costs for businesses through rollout of the reformed
Workplace Relations structures
6. Access to Finance – new non-bank sources of lending to SMEs to add to
the €2billion already available including new working capital products for
exporters and a retail mini bonds market via the Irish Stock Exchange; Dept
of Finance will more closely monitor new bank lending to SMEs on a monthly
basis
7. Regions – Regional Enterprise Strategies, proposals for a successor to
the National Spatial Strategy, an IDA programme of building advance
facilities in specific locations where the private sector is not providing
property solutions
8. Sectors – new supports to deliver continued jobs growth in sectors such
as Agriculture/Food, ICT and Tourism which have been supported in previous
Plans and have shown substantial growth in jobs; new focus on
domestically-traded sectors also including retail and construction
9. Year of Irish Design 2015 – as part of a plan to target 1800 additional
jobs in the design and crafts sector in the medium term, the Government
today announced that it will designate 2015 the Year of Irish Design.
Planning will take place throughout 2014 for a national and international
programme of activities to take place during 2015 in order to encourage
more investment in design and to sustain and grow employment opportunities,
sales and export potential in the design sector
10. Disruptive reforms – a total of 9 Disruptive Reforms (high-impact
measures implemented to ambitious timelines in partnership with industry –
further detail in Notes for Editors), further measures following on from
2013 plan in key areas of ICT skills, Big Data, delivering an integrated
licensing system for retailers and the National Health Innovation Hub
Launching the Plan, the Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD said:
"Creating new jobs is the top priority for Government. We recognise that
too many people around the country still have yet to see evidence of
recovery. This is why the Government has designated 2014 to be the year for
jobs. Exiting the bailout was not an end in itself. We must use this
freedom to create a sustainable economic recovery, to create more jobs and
improve living standards. Just as we had a plan to exit the bail-out, we
now have a clear plan to guide the economy to better times. This is where
the Action Plan for Jobs comes in. The 2014 Action Plan has a strong focus
on the domestic economy, improving competitiveness, and supporting our
entrepreneurs and small businesses. There can be no let up in our efforts
until we are back to full employment."
The Tánaiste Eamonn Gilmore TD said
"When this Government came to office, we were losing 7000 jobs a month –
now we are gaining 5000 per month. We can afford at this stage to be far
more confident about our prospects than at any time since the crisis began.
It is now time to focus on the future, on finishing the job of economic
recovery, of creating jobs, and of building a better post-crisis Ireland.
As part of that, we need to focus on supporting the construction industry
which has gone from being overblown during the boom to being completely
undersized in its wake."
The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD said:
“As we said two years ago when we published the first Action Plan for Jobs,
there is no ‘big bang’ solution to the employment crisis – what we need is
to systematically, brick-by-brick, build a sustainable growing economy
which can create the jobs we need. Over the past two years we have been
grinding out the reforms we need, and have implemented over 500 actions to
improve our competitiveness, support Irish and multinational companies, and
target sectors of potential. And we have seen the results – our
competitiveness rankings are improving, our exports are growing, and we are
now creating jobs faster than any other economy in the EU or the OECD.
“The plan is working. Many people are still not feeling the results, and we
have a long way to go, but we are seeing real progress, and where
previously we were shedding 1600 jobs per week we are now adding 1200 jobs
per week.
“Through Action Plan 2014 we aim to build on this progress. We will focus
on supporting more entrepreneurs and start-up businesses, who create two
thirds of all new jobs. And we will continue to grind out the change we
need to improve our competitiveness and support more exports. In this way I
am confident that we can continue to systematically rebuild a sustainable
growing economy and create the jobs we need”.
ENDS
For further information contact:
Conor Quinn, Press Advisor to Minister Bruton – Ph: 087 3743783.
Press Office, Department of Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation - Ph: 01-6312200;
e-mail: press.office@djei.ie
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Reflecting the focus on entrepreneurship and start-up businesses contained
in the plan, today’s event took place in Wayra Ireland, one of a global
network of startup accelerators, based in O2’s headquarters in Dublin’s
Silicon Dock.
Links to Action Plan for Jobs:
APJ 2014: www.djei.ie/publications/2014APJ.pdf
Table of Actions: www.djei.ie/publications/2014APJ_Table_of_Actions.pdf
Action Plan for Jobs annual process
The Action Plan
for Jobs is a whole of Government, multi-annual initiative
which mobilises all Government Departments to work towards the objective of
supporting job creation. The development of the Plan is coordinated by
Forfás on behalf of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, and
is monitored on a quarterly basis to ensure delivery. The process has
delivered and in 2012, 92 per cent of actions were delivered and in 2013 90
per cent were delivered.
In a departure from the 2012 plan, Action Plan for Jobs 2013 contained
seven headline ‘Disruptive Reform’ measures – these are high-impact
measures with highly ambitious deadlines, implemented in partnership with
senior industry partners and selected because of their potential to have a
significant effect on job creation. This year’s plan adds three new
disruptive reforms on entrepreneurship, winning abroad and manufacturing,
and also continues implementation on 6 of the 7 measures from the 2013
plan, to make a total of 9 Disruptive Reforms in the 2014 plan (see below).
More importantly, however, the Action Plan is having an impact on the
ground and recent data on employment is encouraging. There were 1,899,300
people in work in Q3 2013, an increase of 58,000 compared to Q3 2012. The
Quarterly National Household Survey (CSO, 2013) showed that the
seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate fell to 12.8 per cent in Q3 2013 from
a peak of 15.1 per cent in Q1 2012. More recent Live Register trends
suggest the fall has been even greater in the interim. The long-term
unemployment rate decreased from 8.9 per cent to 7.6 per cent over the year
to Q3 2013. In addition to the increase in employment and the decrease in
unemployment, there are other indicators that the Irish economy is emerging
from the deepest economic crisis in our history. Domestic demand in 2013 is
estimated to have grown by 0.4 per cent, the first increase in this
aggregate since the crisis began. Ireland’s competitiveness rankings are
also once again improving – for example, Ireland’s ranking in the IMD’s
World Competitiveness Yearbook has improved from 24th in 2011 to 20th in
2012 and 17th in 2013.
Competitiveness
Ireland can never again become complacent about its competitive position.
If we are to meet the employment targets contained in this Plan, Ireland
must maintain the hard-won ground over the past number of years and pursue
relentlessly policies which will drive competitiveness in all areas of the
economy. Many firms are still confronted by high costs which make it
difficult to compete internationally. Others are dealing with legacy issues
that make accessing funding for investment extremely challenging. Still
others lack the capabilities (e.g. innovative capacity, language and
international sales skills, technical competencies, etc.) to take advantage
of growth opportunities. Creating a competitive business environment which
supports an increase in exports from these firms is essential to ensuring
Ireland achieves sustainable economic growth and high levels of employment
growth.
In 2014, led by the Taoiseach, the Government will focus on competitiveness
in all areas of economic activity. The Government will develop and target
actions specifically at improving our competitiveness rankings. This is
aimed at achieving a top-five international competitiveness ranking, making
Ireland the best small country in which to do business and creating the
jobs we need.
Disruptive Reforms
Disruptive Reforms were introduced in 2013 as new, high impact,
cross-cutting measures with the potential to have a significant impact on
job creation, to support enterprises and/or be areas where Ireland could
profit from a natural advantage or opportunity that presents itself in the
economy. 6 of the 7 Disruptive Reforms introduced in 2013 will be
progressed further in 2014 in order to realise their ambition. The JobsPlus
initiative, launched in 2013, has already been mainstreamed and has proven
to be particularly impactful. Three new Disruptive Reforms will be
introduced in 2014: Entrepreneurship; Winning Abroad; and Manufacturing:
Entrepreneurship
The Government’s ambition is for Ireland to be among the most
entrepreneurial nations in the world and acknowledged as a world-class
environment in which to start and grow a business. With the unemployment
challenge that Ireland is currently facing, growing the number of
entrepreneurs and start-ups is hugely important for Ireland’s economic
development.
In 2014, the Government will:
§ Roll out 31 Local Enterprise Offices, supported by a Centre of
Excellence in Enterprise Ireland, to drive entrepreneurial activity
throughout the country;
§ Make additional funding available to support start-ups and expansions
including a new Youth Entrepreneurship Fund;
§ Review tax based support schemes for entrepreneurs with a view to
providing a simplified offering targeted at increasing
entrepreneurship;
§ Facilitate mentoring, peer learning and knowledge sharing to develop
entrepreneurial capacity;
§ Target actions, including new funds, to inspire and encourage untapped
potential among groups including youth and graduate entrepreneurs,
female entrepreneurs, immigrant entrepreneurs and at regional level;
and
§ Deliver a clear strategy with medium term actions for entrepreneurship
through a National Entrepreneurship Policy Statement.
Winning Abroad
Generating sustainable broad based export-led growth is essential to
rebuilding our economy. As a small open economy growth in overseas markets
is critical and this Disruptive Reform will place a specific emphasis on
growing opportunities in overseas markets, particularly in new and fast
growing markets.
In 2014, the Government will:
§ Target the creation of an additional 10,000 new jobs (6000 direct and
4000 indirect) over 5 years through an investment programme which will
see the provision of additional resources to IDA Ireland to be
deployed overseas including in emerging markets, intensifying FDI
employment growth;
§ Increase support for companies seeking to trade internationally,
through the provision of additional on-the-ground support by
Enterprise Ireland in overseas markets including China, South Korea,
United Arab Emirates and South Africa. This will also include
targeting 650 companies to have significant engagement with the
Enterprise Ireland potential exporters division, working with 55 first
time exporters and providing a range of programmes to exporters in
2014;
§ Develop the capabilities of Irish enterprises to grow exports through
programmes aimed at both existing exporters and potential exporters;
§ Promote Ireland’s image abroad to drive increased trade, tourism and
investment and implement Local Market Plans in priority markets; and
§ Undertake targeted initiatives in sectors including international
education services, engineering services and cultural services and
design.
Manufacturing: National Step Change
Supporting cost competitiveness in the longer term together with improving
living standards for all can be achieved through productivity growth. This
Disruptive Reform in manufacturing will help place Ireland’s manufacturing
sector to the forefront internationally and improve competitiveness,
productivity and innovation.
In 2014, the Government will:
§ Support 130 indigenous companies with an initiative to improve their
productivity as part of the National Step Change for Manufacturing;
§ Deliver a transformation programme across 70 foreign-owned
manufacturing and services companies in Ireland to achieve technology
uplift, skills enhancement, energy improvements and investment in new
facilities and equipment;
§ Support the adoption of LEAN manufacturing and other productivity
enhancing measures across a wide range of enterprises including
relevant micro-enterprises;
§ Ensure that publicly-funded R&D is oriented to the needs of
manufacturing sectors and support increased engagement by
manufacturing enterprises with research centres and technology centres
focused on the needs of manufacturing
sectors.
Work will continue on the 6 remaining Disruptive Reforms from 2013 as
follows:
Big Data/Data Analytics
Advancing the agenda to make Ireland a leading country in Europe in Big
Data and data analytics by measures including the launch of an Open Data
initiative and further strengthening enterprise engagement in the €88
million Insight Research Centre and the CeADAR Technology Centre.
ICT Skills
Publish a revised ICT Skills Action Plan informed by the recent Forfás/
EGFSN study forecasting high levels of ICT skills needs to 2018, that would
further progress increases made in the domestic supply of ICT graduate
output and move from 63 per cent of demand in 2014 to 74 per cent of demand
in 2018.
Integrated Licensing Application Service
Reducing the regulatory burden on the enterprise sector by delivering an
Integrated Licensing Application Service for the retail sector.
Trading Online
Targeting 2,000 micro and small businesses over a two year period from 2014
to support them to engage in online trading, building on successful trial
undertaken in Dublin.
Energy Efficiency
Establishing an Energy Efficiency Fund and supporting exemplar projects on
energy efficiency to progress the ambition of transforming Ireland into one
of the most energy efficient economies in Europe.
National Health Innovation Hub
Establishing the National Health Innovation Hub in 2014, building on the
successful implementation of the Cork Demonstrator Project, to produce new
healthcare technologies, products, and services by linking commercial
enterprises with the Irish health system.
It is proposed to continue the process of working with Industry Partners in
2014 to deliver these Disruptive Reforms.
Other Key Initiatives
Indigenous Enterprise
Enterprise Ireland will target the creation of 13,000 new fulltime
permanent jobs and support clients to achieve €17.5bn in exports in 2014.
Enterprise Ireland will also implement mentoring programmes for the benefit
of more than 300 clients.
Foreign Direct Investment
The IDA will target 13,000 new gross jobs yielding approximately 6,000 net
new jobs and work to win another 155 new FDI investment projects in 2014
with 20 per cent from growth markets.
Access to Finance
To further improve access to finance for micro, small and medium
enterprises in Ireland, key priorities for 2014 include: increasing new
lending to SMEs; increasing participation in Government sponsored access to
finance schemes for SMEs such as the Microenterprise Loan Fund and the
Credit Guarantee Scheme; raising the level of awareness amongst SMEs and
entrepreneurs of the business supports available; and enhancing the
financial capability of SMEs.
Regional Development
Regions that support strong and dynamic enterprises are crucial to
Ireland’s return to overall economic growth and IDA Ireland will start to
build new advanced manufacturing facilities and office space in regional
locations to create fresh opportunities for FDI.
Sectors
The Action Plan puts a strong focus on a number of domestically trading
sectors, including Construction & Property, Retail and Social Enterprise
where there is potential for significant job creation with the correct
supporting measures. This section also builds on sectors which have been
growing over the last number of years, such as Agri-food, Tourism,
International Financial Services, Aviation Services and the Green Economy
Year of Irish Design 2015
The overall objective of the year is to sustain and create employment
opportunities, sales and export potential for the Irish design sector, by
encouraging investment in design as a key component of competitiveness and
innovation and by showcasing Irish design nationally and in international
design capitals during 2015. Year of Irish Design will be convened by the
Design & Crafts Council of Ireland on behalf of the Department of Jobs,
Enterprise & Innovation, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and
Enterprise Ireland and will provide an umbrella initiative to promote
collaboration between design practitioners, design organisations, and the
government departments, and their agencies, who have an interest in design.
Its aim is to enjoin all parts of the design economy - from education and
enterprise support providers through to the private sector - in a concerted
effort to promote export opportunities for design businesses.
According to an evaluation carried out by Indecon on behalf of DCCoI, craft
and design makes a significant contribution to business, job creation and
export potential. The evaluation estimates that the crafts sector in
Ireland has a total turnover of almost €500m, including exports of €125m,
and is responsible for over 5,700 jobs. The evaluation also concluded that
the sector had the potential to grow significantly over the medium term, to
a level of employment of 7,500 and potential output of €700m, including
exports of €175m.
Action Plan for Jobs Impact Indicators
Working with the OECD we will be developing impact indicators to fine-tune
development and implementation of jobs policy through the Action Plan for
Jobs. Key areas of focus in 2014 will be on:
· Establishing the links, where possible, between actions in the Action
Plan and the achievement of intermediate impacts in areas such as
Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Internationalisation, Skills
Enhancement and Access to Finance;
· The linkages between these intermediate impacts and the ultimate
policy objectives of increasing employment and reducing unemployment
while also increasing competitiveness and productivity in the Irish
economy
NewERA and Irish Strategic Investment Fund established during 2014
Both of these initiatives are expected to make a very significant
contribution to the Irish economy in the years to come. In 2011, NewERA was
established on an administrative basis to support a commercial investment
programme in vital economic infrastructure. NewERA will be established on a
statutory basis in 2014. It will continue to be central to the Government’s
job plans by identifying and advising on opportunities for the commercial
investment programme in vital economic infrastructure. In addition it will
have a role in the provision of independent advice on all aspects of the
business, operations and governance of commercial semi-states under its
remit. The National Pensions Reserve Fund’s (NPRF) discretionary portfolio
is valued at circa €6.8 billion as at 31 December 2013. In 2014, the ISIF
will be established with a commercial Ireland-focused investment mandate,
absorbing the resources of the NPRF. In anticipation of the NPRF’s
conversion into the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, the NPRF has been
working to develop a pipeline of potential investments. A number of these
have been concluded and as a result, the NPRF now has €1.3 billion invested
or committed to areas of strategic importance to the Irish economy
including infrastructure, venture capital and long-term financing for SMEs.
SME procurement
Building on the progress so far which has seen for example 17,000
additional SMEs register on the Government’s eTenders website suring 2013,
further measures to make it easier for SMEs to win Government contracts
will be introduced during 2014. In particular, we will review and update
the Government’s Procurement Guidelines and Procedures to address any
obstacles to SMEs participating as fully as possible in the public
procurement process
€5million built heritage jobs scheme
A new €5 million Built Heritage Jobs Leverage Scheme to encourage
investment of private capital through matching public funds in a large
number of small-scale, labour-intensive projects to repair and conserve
historic structures, while supporting the employment of skilled and
experienced conservation professionals, craft workers and trades people.
This initiative will be linked to a targeted training scheme in traditional
building skills