A policy analyst with the Western Development Commission says it's very worrying that the jobs recovery that seems to be happening nationally is not occurring in Sligo.
Analysis of Census 2016 figures by the WDC shows Sligo has had the lowest employment growth of any county in the past five years.
It is also one of six counties where the labour force is shrinking.
The analysis by the WDC shows that total employment -- that's the number of people in jobs -- in County Sligo grew by only 2.2% between 2011 and 2016.
That's significantly below the 11% national growth and the lowest of any county in the State.
However, Sligo has a somewhat higher share of self-employed -- 9% compared with the national average of 8.3%.
In Donegal, which was only one of two counties in which population fell, total employment grew 9.5%.
In Leitrim, the growth in employment was 6.3%.
Pauline White is policy analyst with the Western Development Commission.
She says that in Sligo's case, poor performance in the retail and construction sectors have contributed to the low employment growth in the county:
[audio mp3="https://img.oceanfm.ie/prod/uploads/2017/11/white14wav.mp3"][/audio]
