WHILE the Northern Ireland economy has performed well over the last 10 years, it is currently not growing at a fast enough rate to sustain the levels of employment needed for the future.

This is the warning given by the latest report from PricewaterhouseCoopers which revealed that Northern Ireland is only halfway to creating the 13,000 new jobs per annum needed to sustain the country’s population and infrastructure.

According to the organisation’s 22nd Annual Review and Prospects Report, the performance of the economy over recent years shows that political stability can pay off by attracting overseas investment, which in turn has a knock-on effect in the creation and growth in the local business sector.

But despite these factors, the report projected an increase in the province’s economy of just 2 per cent - to 2.5 per cent – lagging far behind the figure needed to stimulate growth. In addition, Northern Ireland has yet to recover from the financial fall-out of the foot-and-mouth outbreak, which has been estimated as costing hospitality industry alone over £100 million.

Discrepancies were also highlighted between the skills of current school leavers and the needs of business, with companies requiring skills that are not yet part of the curriculum. Levels of basic skills such as literacy and numeracy were also found to be low, and were cited as further evidence that education and business are ‘out of step’ with each other.

The report concluded that a stepped change in the performance of the Northern Ireland economy was urgently required if the country was to meet the projected challenges ahead.

(CL)