Ireland's manufacturing sector continued to expand in November, but at its slowest pace in nearly two years.

The Investec Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 53.3 in November from a score of 53.6 in October. Any value above 50 indicates growth.

Increases in new orders fed through to higher output, employment and purchasing activity in the sector.

As activity increased and exports rose manufactures continued to take on more staff, with the rate of job creation remaining steady.

Close to 21% of the respondents reported that they had taken on extra staff - while 12% reported that they had experienced a reduction in their employment levels.

Chief economist at Investec Philip O’Sullivan commented on the latest figures, "We are pleased to see that headcounts in the sector continue to grow at a healthy clip, as they have consistently done over the past two-and-a-half years. Helped by these extra staffing resources, backlogs of work recorded a fourth successive monthly decline."

He added that global economic instability could affect future orders, saying "manufacturing firms here remain positive on the outlook, but perhaps not as much as they were earlier in the year when the prospects for the global economy (and, within that, emerging markets in particular) seemed stronger."