Unemployment rate forecast to peak at 15.5%, business investment to drop

Ireland’s unemployment rate will peak at 15.5% and business investment will drop by 5% next year, as credit conditions remain very tight, according to Ernst & Young’s eurozone economic forecast.

However, Ireland’s GDP growth has been revised upwards from 0.6% to 1% in 2013.

The unemployment rate in Ireland is forecast to reach 14.9% by the end of this year. Across the eurozone the employment outlook is equally bleak. The forecast sees region-wide jobless rate peaking at 12% in the first quarter of 2014 with the total unemployment rates reaching 26% in Spain and 27% in Greece.