Since 2003 Carlow has received less than 1% of IDA site visits
The county's 'weak recovery has run out of steam'
From 2011 to 2017 the IDA created 57,666 net jobs and Carlow accounted for 0.6% of these net additional jobs, according to the South East Economic Monitor 2018.
Carlow currently has one-third of the IDA jobs that it should have based its population and thus it continues to lag behind the national recovery with signs that the weak recovery has run out of steam.
Since 2003 Carlow has received less than 1% of IDA visits and this has resulted in the county falling well short of its fair share of IDA jobs.
The report, now in its third year of publication, highlights the labour market in Carlow and the wider South East as an area of concern.
While there was an impressive decrease in the Live Register in Carlow (16% year-on-year decrease), there are serious concerns as Carlow is home to 1.2% of the population of the State but to 1.64% of those on the Live Register.
In the wider South East, the unemployment rate has plateaued and any modest short-term decreases over the last 12 months are largely attributable to a shrinking labour force.
There is also evidence of low job quality as the returns for taxes on work (PAYE, USC, and self-employed taxes) in Carlow are 54% of what one would expect based on population share which means that more people in the region are paid less.