UNEMPLOYMENT FELL TO 11.5% in the second quarter (Q2) of the year, according to figures published today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The Quarterly National Household Survey found that the unemployment rate in Ireland had dropped from 12 to 11.5% between April and June 2014.
Compared to this time last year, the jobless rate decreased by 46,200 – a 15.4% drop – meaning Q2 was the eight quarter in a row that year-on-year unemployment has declined.
Conversely, the number of people in employment has increased by 31,600 in the last 12 months, to 1,901,600.
That 1.7% year-on-year increase, however, compares with a 2.3% rise for the first quarter of 2014, and a 1.8% rise in the 12 months leading up to Q2 2013.
This suggests that the rate of jobs growth in Ireland is slowing.
The breadth of employment growth will also provide happy reading for the government, with 10 out of the 14 sectors measured by the CSO showing a year-on-year rise in employment.
Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton warmly welcomed today’s numbers.
Speaking to the media earlier, he said the positive figures proved that:
The strategy we’ve been pursuing [the Action Plan for Jobs and Pathways to Work] is having an impact on bringing people who were out of the workforce through unemployment, and particularly long-term unemployment, back into job opportunities.
I’m absolutely convinced that if we continue to make the right policy choices, then we will deliver the 100,000 jobs by 2016, which has been a core part of our programme.
For his part, Finance Minister Michael Noonan highlighted the particularly strong growth in full-time employment shown in today’s figures.
In a statement this afternoon, he said:
This increase is driven by an increase in full time jobs and there is evidence that people are moving from part time to full time work as conditions in the labour market continue to improve.
The figure of 31,600 jobs added in the last year is derived from an increase of 33,500 in full time employment combined with a decrease of 1,900 in part-time work.
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