By Dara Bradley

More than 6,600 Galway builders and tradesmen lost their jobs in the construction sector in the past five years, according to a new report.

The latest tranche of Census 2011 data released this week reveals that the number of construction workers employed in Galway City and County has more than halved compared with Census 2006.

The report, At Work – Employment, occupations and industry in Ireland, is the third profile report examining census results in more detail and shows that there are 6,623 fewer people employed in the construction industry in Galway compared with 2006.

The report substantiates the extent of the effect the property crash had on employment figures here: in 2006, 13,158 were employed in Galway in construction but that had dropped to just 6,535 in 2011, and the trends indicate that that figure has probably slid further since.

The analysis also proves how important the tourism industry is for employment in Galway City: One in ten workers in Galway City was employed in the accommodation and food services sector, which is above the national average of six per cent. Only Kerry, another tourism-dependent area, has the same 10% of workers employed in hotels, hostels, bars and restaurants.

Manufacturing industry was the most important industrial sector in Galway, employing 13,678 or 13.6% of all workers, which is higher than the 10% for the State overall.

Total unemployment in Galway was 22,545, giving an unemployment rate of 18.3% compared with 19% for the State as a whole. Of these 1,842 were first time job seekers. A total of 7,053 of the unemployed were in the city with 15,192 in the county.

In Galway City 30 per cent of those out of work were non-Irish. Eight per cent of people out of work in Galway City were Polish, the highest percentage of any area in the state. In County Galway, 20.2% of unemployed people in April 2011 were non-Irish nationals compared with 19.5% for the State overall.

In Galway City and County, the vast majority (80%) of the 22,245 out of work were Irish.

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel