Chapter 5 Economy and Employment “To strengthen the employment base and economic profile of Louth that builds on the designation of Drogheda and Dundalk as Regional Growth Centres and maximises the strategic location of the County along the Dublin-Belfast Economic Corridor. The prioritisation of Drogheda and Dundalk for economic investment with the complementary supporting economic role of the smaller towns and villages will ensure the Job:Workforce ratio continues to improve thus creating more balanced and sustainable communities.” 5 ECONOMY AND EMPLOYMENT 5.1 INTRODUCTION The Draft Plan seeks to support and facilitating future population and facilitate viable economic development economic growth. and job creation, across a range of Economic development and employment sectors, in accordance with the principles in the County is concentrated in business of proper planning and sustainable parks, industrial estates, and town centres development. As the population of Louth in Drogheda, Dundalk, Ardee, and continues to grow, it is essential that the Dunleer. Outside of these settlements County continues to be well positioned to there are smaller scale enterprises in the facilitate further economic investment small towns, villages, and open and respond to any economic countryside. uncertainties. With over 35,000 jobs in the County and a This chapter will set out the vision and Jobs:Workforce ratio of 0.71 recorded in strategy for economic development in the Census 2016, the economic benefits County during the life of the Draft Plan. It associated with the strategic location of will identify the opportunities for Louth to the County, and in particular the strength strengthen its economic base and of the employment base, are apparent. continue to attract investment and With a net outward migration rate of support job creation for both indigenous almost 30% of resident workers travelling and international businesses. The spatial outside the County, the majority of whom framework for enterprise and work in Dublin, the interdependency employment development is consistent between Louth and Dublin is evident. with and aligned to national, regional and At a settlement level, Dundalk is the local level economic development primary centre of employment in the policies. County, with almost 14,200 jobs in 2016. This equates to 40% of the total jobs in 5.2 ECONOMIC PROFILE OF the County and is an indication of the LOUTH strength of this Regional Growth Centre as The locational advantage of Louth along a location for employment. The the Dublin-Belfast Economic Corridor with Job:Workforce ratio in the town was 0.99 excellent access to Dublin and Belfast City in 2016, highlighting the close alignment Centre, Airport, Port, and surrounding Key between population and employment Towns in the Region means the County is growth in the town and the sustainable well positioned to attract economic platform on which the town is developing. investment. Drogheda is also an important centre of employment with over 12,300 jobs in the The identification of Drogheda and 1 Dundalk as Regional Growth Centres town in 2016 . The lower Job:Workforce (RGCs) in the National Planning ratio is an indication of the Framework (NPF) and Regional Strategic interdependency of the town with Dublin, Economic Strategy (RSES) is recognition of due to the higher volume of outbound the importance of these settlements at commuting for employment. both a regional and national level in 1 This includes the Southern Environs of the town which had 1,216 jobs and 3,700 resident workers in 2016. Draft Louth County Development Plan 2021-2027 5-1 Ardee and Dunleer have a solid The remaining smaller settlements are employment base, with both towns dependent on outbound commuting and experiencing a sustainable balance of have a Job:Workforce ratio ranging population and employment growth. between 0.17 (Clogherhead) and 0.32 When compared to settlements of similar (Termonfeckin). This is an indication of a sizes, it is apparent that both towns weak employment base. outperform many other towns in the Figure 5.2 provides a breakdown of the Region and across the country with regard occupational groups in the County in 2011 to total jobs. This is an indication of the and 2016. It is a useful indication of the importance of the towns in employment broad range of employment in the and service provision in their surrounding County, in addition to highlighting the skill hinterland. Dunleer is the only town in sets of the workforce. These include the County with a net in-flow of workers business and administrative roles, in that there are more jobs in the town corporate management, research and than resident workers, resulting in the engineering, and skilled trades. There was town having a Job:Workforce ratio of a modest increase in most occupational 1.10. groups between 2011-2016, with The smaller settlements in the County professional and service occupations have a more limited employment base recording the highest increase. Skilled resulting in fewer jobs. Carlingford and construction trades recorded the largest Castlebellingham/Kilsaran are the decrease during this period. exceptions with these towns having a Job:Workforce ratio of 0.8 (370 jobs in the town) and 0.65 (295 jobs in the town) respectively. 5-2 Draft Louth County Development Plan 2021-2027 Fig 5.1: Resident workers, jobs, and jobs ratio in Louth by settlement in 2016 Resident Workers, Jobs, and Jobs Ratio, 2016 Louth 49,712 0.71 35,451 Dundalk 14,178 0.99 14,163 Drogheda 16,108 0.76 12,361 Ardee 1,819 0.93 1,706 Dunleer 751 1.10 822 Carlingford 459 0.81 370 Castlebellingham/ 451 0.65 295 Kilsaran Clogherhead 860 0.17 150 Collon 336 0.31 104 Dromiskin 506 0.24 121 Knockbridge 296 0.26 78 Louth Village 281 0.21 60 Omeath 206 0.38 78 Tallanstown 275 0.26 20.5 Termonfeckin 629 0.32 71 Tullyallen 675 0.20 138 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Resident workers Jobs Draft Louth County Development Plan 2021-2027 5-3 Figure 5.2: Breakdown of the labour force in Louth in 2011 and 2016 Labour Force Breakdown 2011 & 2016 Administrative occupations Business and public service associate professionals Business, media and public service professionals Caring personal service occupations Corporate managers and directors Culture, media and sports occupations Customer service occupations Elementary administration and service occupations Elementary trades and related occupations Health and social care associate professionals Health professionals Leisure, travel and related personal service occupations Other managers and proprietors Other/not stated 2011 2016 Process, plant and machine operatives Protective service occupations Sales occupations Science, engineering and technology associate professionals Science, research, engineering and technology professionals Secretarial and related occupations Skilled agricultural and related trades Skilled construction and building trades Skilled metal, electrical and electronic trades Teaching and educational professionals Textiles, printing and other skilled trades Transport and mobile machine drivers and operatives Unemployed - looking for first regular job 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 5-4 Draft Louth County Development Plan 2021-2027 5.3 EMPLOYER PROFILE There are a broad range of employers Whilst a Development Plan cannot create from various industrial sectors based in employment, it has a critical role to play in Louth. The most prominent sectors facilitating development and supporting include bio-pharma, food and beverage economic growth. If a Plan is to support production, manufacturing, financial economic growth, it needs to ensure that services, and ICT. there are sufficient lands available for In addition to providing direct investment and that these lands can be employment, the large businesses and serviced by the required roads, water employers in the County create higher services, energy, and telecommunications productivity in the wider economy as they infrastructure. Any deficits in provide indirect employment in areas infrastructure can result in inefficiencies, such as service provision, maintenance, loss of output, and higher costs for and logistics. businesses which ultimately impacts on Health and education are also prominent economic competitiveness. Regular employment sectors, with two hospitals engagement and collaboration with (Our Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda and infrastructure agencies and providers, in Louth County Hospital in Dundalk) and a identifying and progressing projects that third level education facility (Dundalk will facilitate economic growth is required Institute of Technology, DkIT and to ensure there is a coherent and holistic Drogheda Institute of Further Education, approach to development. Furthermore, DIFE), located in the County. creating the right environment for Within the various employment sectors in enterprise and employment to thrive can the County there are opportunities for deliver high-quality places as they become continued growth and expansion. attractive locations to work, live, invest, study and visit. 5.4 ECONOMIC STRATEGY The primary location for employment The Draft Plan provides a framework for related development during this Draft economic growth and investment at a Plan will be in the Regional Growth County level. This framework is closely Centres of Drogheda and Dundalk. These aligned with national and regional policy settlements have a strong employment and has taken account of recent base, a wide range of services, and a large government publications relating to market and catchment, with capacity to economic development, including the accommodate further investment in Action Plan for Jobs and Enterprise 2025. centrally located areas where there are The economic strategy for the County is opportunities to cluster with existing based on a vision of developing a strong enterprises. economic base supported by enterprise, By concentrating growth in these innovation and skills. This Draft Plan seeks settlements there is an opportunity to to reinforce this vision by aligning with the create a critical mass of population that key economic principles set out in the will support infrastructure investment and RSES.