International agency Manpower has expressed confidence in the future of the Irish recruitment business with plans to expand its own employee numbers from 65 to 130 over the next two years. Opening the group's Irish headquarters in Dublin yesterday, president and chief executive Mr Jeffrey Joerres said Manpower will have invested €6 million (£5 million) in its Irish business by mid-2003.
The publicly-listed group, which acquired the SkillsGroup operation in late 1999, has six offices in the Republic and five in Northern Ireland. Mr Joerres said the Irish operation could be built up by up to 25-30 offices through organic growth over coming years.
With some recruitment companies letting staff go in response to a falling demand from clients, Mr Joerres rejected any suggestion that Manpower was expanding too late in the Irish economic cycle.
"This is the best time to come into the market because everyone else is not able to invest. We have the financial strength to take a longer-term view.
"We invest during a slowdown because there is always another side to the economic cycle. A cycle of 12 to 18 months is just a snap of the finger in the life of a corporate entity. When growth is slower it gives us an opportunity to plan for the next phase. The industry has a life-cycle and we need to plan to maximise the lifecycle," he commented.
Manpower plans to invest "in a cautious yet aggressive way" in the Irish market to become the leading service provider, he said. While he accepted that the market, particularly in telecoms and technology was in a "soft spot", he said economic growth of around 6 per cent compared very favourably with US growth of just 0.2 per cent.
Manpower, set up in 1948, has 3,700 offices in 59 countries and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
It had a turnover of $12.4 billion (€14 billion) in 2000.
Its Irish operation produced a turnover of £5.5 million, while SkillsGroup added £7 million, according to Manpower Ireland's chief executive, Mr Jason Kennedy.
