Companies supported by state agencies created more than 21,000 additional jobs last year, according to new figures provided by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.
The data shows businesses backed by Enterprise Ireland, IDA and Údarás na Gaeltachta, reported full and part-time employment of more than 409,041 jobs in 2016. This marks a 5.4 per cent rise compared to the previous year.
The figures also show a bounce in the numbers employed on a full-time basis by indigenous firms. Overall, there were 176,271 people working on a full-time basis for Irish-owned enterprises, up 6.3 per cent versus 2015.
This increase continues the five-year trend of positive employment growth for Irish-owned firms, following four years of net losses in employment between 2008 and 2011.
Low point in 2011
Employment in Irish-owned firms has increased by 27 per cent from the low point in 2011, when indigenous firms employed 138,464 people.
Overall, Irish-owned companies accounted for 49 per cent of total full-time employment in agency-assisted firms last year against 51 per cent in 2007.
Among foreign-owned companies, total full-time employment amounted to 185,773 last year, a 5.8 per cent rise on the previous year and the sixth successive year of growth.
Back in 2007, foreign-owned companies backed by state agencies employed 158,199 people.
