About 7,000 full-time jobs have been lost in the pub trade since 2009, according to a report from the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (Digi). This represented a 20 per cent fall in full-time employment in the sector.
The decline in permanent employment is due to a combination of declining alcohol consumption, reduced consumer spending and a shift to off-licence sales.
Latest figures from the Revenue Commissioners show that the volume of alcohol sold from warehouses in the first nine months of this year declined by 3.8 per cent year-on-year. In total sales volumes are 34 per cent lower than in 2008.
The report, Estimate of Employment in Public Houses, by Dublin City University economist Anthony Foley, shows that there are now 27,900 full-time jobs in Irish pubs, down from 34,900 in 2009.
Digi said bar work as a career was becoming less and less viable, with pubs increasingly relying on part-time staff. Any move to increase taxes in the budget would further damage the viability of pubs.
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