A new report from employers body IBEC has found that Ireland is rapidly regaining the competitiveness it lost during the boom years.
The report was unveiled at IBEC's CEO conference in the Convention Centre in Dublin today. The conference is hearing directly from some of Ireland's largest businesses about how they have survived the economic crisis and have positioned their companies to deliver growth for the country.
The 'Productivity and Adjustment Report' shows that as pay rates and other costs have reduced, Irish firms are again performing strongly on international markets. The IBEC study found that major restructuring programmes and a stronger focus on productivity has delivered average annul unit costs decreases of 7%.
The actual unit costs over which companies have most control - overheads and labour - have fallen by much more than this. IBEC says that in order to remain viable, businesses are doing more with less.
'Irish companies and their employees moved quickly and with a flexibility unmatched in any other country,' commented IBEC's director general Danny McCoy.
'We now have evident that this is working and business is gaining the necessary momentum to drive economic growth. We have a lot more to do to restore our economic fortunes, but significant progress has been made,' he added.
