Clustering in Ireland: development cycle considerations

Figures & data

Table 1. Traded versus local activities in Ireland, 2008–12.

Variable	Traded	Local
Share of employment (%), 2012	35.1	65.9
Employment growth (CAGR) (%), 2008–12	–3.7	–4.9
Share of output GVA (%), 2012	85.4	14.6
Share of exports (%), 2012	97.6	2.4
Average wage (2014€)	41,411	25,497
Wage growth (CAGR) (%), 2008–12	1.1	–6.1

Note: CAGR, compound annual growth rate; GVA, gross value added.

Sources: Employment data are taken from Central Statistics Office (2008b, 2012b). Output and wage data are taken from Central Statistics Office (2008a, 2008c, 2012c).

Table 2. NUTS-2 traded and local economic activities, 2008–12.

Variable	Traded activities		Local activities
	South and East	Border, Midland, West	South and East	Border, Midland, West
Share of employment (%), 2012	37.2	28.0	62.8	72.0
Employment growth (CAGR) (%), 2008–12	–3.3	–5.1	–4.8	–5.2
Share of output GVA (%), 2012	76.6	87.1	23.4	12.9
Share of exports (%), 2012	97.4	97.7	2.6	2.3
Average wage (2014€)	42,878	33,620	26,379	23,568
Wage growth (CAGR) (%), 2008–12	1.1	1.8	–6.4	–3.4

Note: CAGR, compound annual growth rate; GVA, gross value added.

Sources: Employment data are taken from Central Statistics Office (2008b, 2012b). Output and wage data are taken from Central Statistics Office (2008a, 2008c, 2012c).

Table 3. Traded clusters in the Irish economy, 2008–12.

Cluster		Employment, 2012	CAGR employment, 2008–12	Employment growth rank (1 = highest growth)	Average wage, 2012 (2014€)	Wage rank (1 = highest growth)	CAGR average wage, 2008–12	Wage growth rank (1 = highest growth)
1	Business Services	119,004	–3.6	19	42,681	13	3.5	6
2	Hospitality and Tourism	85,413	–2.8	14	19,510	36	–1.7	31
3	Distribution and Electronic Commerce	80,642	–3.4	16	43,419	11	4.7	5
4	Transportation and Logistics	39,159	–3.2	15	48,432	8	1.4	18
5	Information Technology and Analytical Instruments	26,265	–8.5	24	59,180	3	5.2	2
6	Medical Devices	24,109	4.9	3	41,537	14	3.0	9
7	Food Processing and Manufacturing	21,501	–2.2	11	45,554	9	1.0	21
8	Biopharmaceuticals	14,621	–0.5	8	60,422	2	3.0	8
9	Livestock Processing	13,406	1.7	5	28,243	32	–1.2	29
10	Production Technology and Heavy Machinery	7872	–14.0	31	36,970	19	1.7	14
11	Plastics	6591	–6.3	22	33,398	27	1.0	20
12	Footwear	6208	–18.8	35	28,447	33	–1.1	28
13	Construction Products and Services	6049	–10.2	27	41,403	15	1.0	19
14	Communications Equipment and Services	5659	–3.5	17	57,559	4	5.2	3
15	Metalworking Technology	5588	–12.8	30	36,276	21	1.5	17
16	Automotive	4901	–5.4	21	37,596	18	2.7	11
17	Downstream Chemical Products	4351	–9.9	26	50,942	7	1.9	13
18	Education and Knowledge Creation	4277	1.0	6	51,830	6	–0.6	25
19	Printing Services	3445	–10.6	28	34,364	23	–0.4	24
20	Upstream Chemical Products	3239	–1.8	9	60,915	1	0.8	22
21	Video Production and Distribution	3111	8.7	1	39,433	16	–4.1	36
22	Downstream Metal Products	3048	–4.1	20	33,232	28	–1.8	32
23	Paper and Packaging	3011	–2.7	13	36,841	20	–0.8	26
24	Lighting and Electrical Equipment	2954	–8.3	23	33,845	26	–1.0	27
25	Wood Products	2753	–18.8	34	33,953	25	2.9	10
26	Recreational and Small Electric Goods	2336	6.9	2	33,955	24	1.6	16
27	Non Metal Mining	2210	–19.4	36	38,625	17	–2.8	35
28	Water Transport	2043	–3.6	18	55,349	5	3.4	7
29	Textile Manufacturing	1862	–11.7	29	36,225	22	6.2	1
30	Upstream Metal Manufacturing	1848	–9.8	25	43,399	12	2.0	12
31	Fishing and Fishing Products	1830	0.12	7	25,378	34	0.5	23
32	Environmental Services	1788	3.12	4	32,762	29	–2.4	34
33	Vulcanized and Fired Materials	1482	–15.9	32	31,669	30	–1.5	30
34	Apparel	1209	–18.0	33	22,994	10	–2.2	33
35	Agricultural Inputs and Services	368	–2.0	10	43,901	35	1.6	15
36	Furniture	103	–2.5	12	27,674	31	4.7	4

Note: CAGR, compound annual growth rate.

Sources: Central Statistics Office (2008a, 2008c, 2012a, 2012c) – Annual Services Inquiry and Census of Industrial Production.

Table 4. Top ranked traded clusters by exports for Ireland, 2012.

Rank	Cluster	Exports (€, thousands)	CAGR, 2008–12	Per Irish plant (€, thousands)	Per foreign plant
					(€, thousands)^a
1	Biopharmaceuticals	31,818,151	4.1	5909	704,838
2	Information Technology and Analytical Instruments	23,354,219	–6.0	1987	176,820
3	Business Services	20,141,212	55.4	335	28,197
4	Distribution and Electronic Commerce	15,272,480	21.8	444	16,254
5	Food Processing	14,440,756	3.4	9334	464,229
6	Medical Devices	8,359,329	13.5
7	Livestock Processing	2,573,482	4.5
8	Transportation and Logistics	1,612,012	–10.6
9	Production Technology and Heavy Machinery	1,333,948	–3.7
10	Downstream Chemical Production	748,975	–2.7
	Total	119,654,564
Total merchandise exports		94,154,125	1.4
Total service exports		90,920,187	7.5

Notes:

^a Foreign is defined as non-Irish.

CAGR, compound annual growth rate.

Sources: Central Statistics Office (2008a, 2008c, 2012a, 2012c, 2016a, 2016b) – Annual Services Inquiry, Census of Industrial Production and Balance of Payments.

Table 5. Traded clusters for Irish and foreign plants, 2012.

Rank	Cluster	Employment per plant		Output per plant (€, thousands)		Wages per worker per plant (€)
		Irish	Foreign	Irish	Foreign	Irish	Foreign
1	Biopharmaceuticals	62	295	318,884	671,294	46,081	61,560
2	Information Technology and Analytical Instruments	14	113	1238	59,742	46,990	62,336
3	Business Services	8	57	354	6335	38,395	50,904
4	Distribution and Electronic Commerce	10	27	613	7036	33,717	65,827
5	Food Processing	51	260	4469	223,134	36,877	62,197

Sources: Central Statistics Office (2008a, 2008c, 2012a, 2012c) – Annual Services Inquiry and Census of Industrial Production.

Figure 1. Top 10 globally competitive Irish traded clusters, 2008–12.

Table 6. Location quotients: 14 prominent Irish traded clusters for NUTS-3 regions, 2012.

Cluster	Border^a	Dublin	Mid-east	Midlands^a	Mid-west	South-east	South-west	West^a
Agricultural Inputs and Services	2.5	0.2	1.5	0.5	3.0	2.7	1.3	0.5
Biopharmaceuticals^c^d	0.5	0.8	1.2	0.0	0.0	2.2	2.0	1.4
Business Services^b^d	0.5	1.4	0.8	0.2	0.9	0.6	1.1	0.5
Communications Equipment and Services^c	0.1	1.8	0.3	0.1	0.4	0.4	0.7	0.2
Distribution and Electronic Commerce^b^d	1.0	1.1	0.9	0.4	1.2	0.8	1.1	0.7
Downstream Chemical Products	0.8	0.6	2.4	0.2	3.0	1.3	1.5	0.2
Financial Services	0.2	2.0	0.3	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.4	0.2
Food Processing^d	2.2	0.6	1.3	0.4	0.9	2.1	1.8	0.3
Information Technology and Analytical Instruments^b^d	0.3	0.7	2.8	0.1	2.0	0.5	1.7	0.9
Insurance Services	0.7	1.9	0.2	0.1	0.2	0.7	0.2	0.2
Livestock Processing	1.6	0.1	3.6	1.6	1.0	3.5	0.6	0.9
Medical Devices^b	2.1	0.1	0.3	0.9	2.0	1.7	1.1	4.0
Production Technology and Heavy Machinery	1.5	0.2	0.9	1.0	1.2	1.9	2.3	1.7
Transportation and Logistics^b^d	0.9	1.3	0.8	0.3	1.2	1.1	0.6	0.5

Notes:

LQ scores in bold indicate regional concentration (> 1.0) relative to the national employment share; underlined LQ scores indicate the highest cluster concentration relative to national employment shares; and LQ scores in italics indicate the most concentrated cluster in that region.

^a These NUTS-3 regions make up the NUTS-2 region BMW. The reminder constitute the South-east region.

^b Clusters in the top five by employment share (see Table 3).

^c Clusters in the top 5 by wage level (see Table 3).

^d Clusters in the top 5 by export share (see Table 4).

Sources: Central Statistics Office (2012b) – Business Demography.

Central Statistics Office. (2008b). Business demography – micro data. Ireland: Central Statistics Office.

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Central Statistics Office. (2008a). Annual services inquiry – micro data. Ireland: Central Statistics Office.

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Central Statistics Office. (2012c). Census of industrial production – micro data. Ireland: Central Statistics Office.

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Central Statistics Office. (2012b). Business demography – micro data. Ireland: Central Statistics Office.

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Central Statistics Office. (2008c). Census of industrial production – micro data. Ireland: Central Statistics Office.

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Central Statistics Office. (2012a). Annual services inquiry – micro data. Ireland: Central Statistics Office.

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