Bank issues jobs warning amid economic recovery
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The Central Bank warned today it will be next year before the economy is growing strongly enough to create jobs.
Financial experts predicted the economy will pick up in the second half of this year and grow by 2.8pc next year.
But the bank said the upturn, based on a gradual recovery in exports and a moderation in the rate of decline in domestic demand, would only see new jobs several months later.
"In 2011, the likelihood of positive output growth should limit the decline in employment to about 0.5pc with the prospect of a return to employment growth in the second half of the year," the bank's latest quarterly bulletin reported.
The Central bank forecast unemployment to average at about 13.7pc this year before falling by only 0.5pc next year, while the cost of living is expected to continue to fall until the end of this year.
The bank said the economy shrank by 7.1pc last year.
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