FÁS to pilot joint entrepreneurial programme
FÁS and Enterprise Ireland will begin a number of new initiatives to assist human resource development in companies this year.
An entrepreneurial development programme for Irish business will be launched, including provision for mentoring and training.
Both organisations will also host a major conference on Human Resource issues later in the year.
The State employment and training body has predicted a continued slowdown in employment growth, despite a pick-up in the economy.
Employment, on average, is forecast to rise by 16,000 in 2004 compared to 24,000 last year but well below the peak of 90,000 in 1999.
The numbers employed in the public sector grew by 20,000, manufacturing employment fell by 10,000.
The average unemployment rate in 2003 was expected to be 4.8%, up from 4.4% in 2002, still well below the European Union average of 8.0%.
Unemployment is projected to rise to about 5%, a modest increase, and well below the levels in the EU as a whole, the agency said today in its 2003 review and 2004 outlook.
It said it provided training for about 34,000 unemployed persons in 2003 while there were 20,000 on community employment schemes at the end of last year.
