There were 27,700 redundancies last year, the highest number in 19 years and a 9.2 per cent increase on 2002, according to official figures. Cliff Taylor reports.

The data from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment showed December was the worst month of the year, with 2,862 notified redundancies, a 61 per cent increase on the same month last year and up from 2,331 in November.

Notification of 382 redundancies as part of a major reorganisation at Dairygold in Mitchelstown, Co Cork, contributed to the high December total. Among the other job losses notified last month were 156 redundancies at Unilever Bestfoods Ireland in Inchicore, Dublin. The fall-off in sales of tobacco was reflected in 90 redundancies at Gallaghers in Tallaght and 31 at John Player in Park West, while there were 57 redundancies at Diageo in St James's Gate in Dublin.

Redundancies have topped 2,000 each month since last May. Despite this, there has been some decline in the Live Register unemployment total in recent months, although December figures will not be published until next week.

However, the high redundancy levels in December will create some nervousness about the outlook for the jobs market. While general international economic conditions are recovering, many companies remain under pressure due to rising costs at a time of ever-increasing competition and - in the case of some exporters - from the rising value of the euro.

Indigenous industry, in particular, seems to have suffered in recent months as pressure grows to rationalise and cut costs to try to protect profit margins.

Redundancy levels topped 31,000 in 1984 but fell consistently during the rest of the 1980s and 1990s. The annual totals were in the 12,000-13,000 range from 1995 to 2000, the boom years, before rising to almost 20,000 in 2001 and 25,358 last year as the economy slowed and international conditions deteriorated.

However, the number of people at work has continued to grow each year and topped 1.8 million in the third quarter of last year, according to the latest available figures.