Allied Irish Bank economists are predicting 68,000 new jobs will be created in Ireland during 2007. But they say there will be a slowdown in employment growth over the next 18 months.

In its latest labour force assessment, AIB says it expects the pace of employment in the building industry to slow considerably and possibly even decline in some areas due to a peak in housing supply.
It says this will bring overall employment growth down to around 3.5 per cent in 2007 and 2.5 per cent in 2008.

This equates to the creation of around 68,000 new jobs this year and 40,000 next year. AIB is also predicting that the number of people seeking work will increase by more than this figure, pushing unemployment up to five per cent.