Giving South East and Midlands a share in recovery will prove a challenge for opposition

For opposition parties these continue to be challenging times.

The economic recovery story continues to build and those people who long-argued that Ireland would never recover from the horrendous recession of 2007 will have to think again.

The recovery is happening and it is very real.

I have long believed that from a social and economic perspective trends in the labour market should be viewed as the key indicator of success or failure.

Thankfully all labour market indicators are signalling success, albeit complete victory has not yet been attained.

Earlier this week the CSO released the latest employment numbers and they make for positive reading.

Total employment in the economy reached 1.98 million in September, which represents an increase of 56,000 or 2.9% over the past year.

The increase in total employment in the year to September comprised an increase of 59,400 in full-time and a decline of 3,400 in part-time posts.

The replacement of part-time with full-time employment is a very positive sign.

Earlier in the labour market recovery cycle most of the growth in jobs was driven by part-time jobs.

Government was criticised widely about the lack of full-time jobs, but those critics failed to understand the nature of economic recovery.

Business is rarely confident about the sustainability of recovery in the early stages of a recovery and tend to take on part-time employees, just to be sure.

However, as business becomes more confident, the focus tends to switch to full-time employees.

This is exactly what has happened in Ireland over the past year.

In fact we are now starting to see employers competing for labour again.

Skills’ shortages are becoming apparent, this is one definition of success and a pretty decent one.

The unemployment rate fell to 9.1% of the labour force in the third quarter.

The long-term unemployment rate which fell to 5% overall accounted for over 54% of all unemployed people, that’s down from over 58% two years ago.

Total employment in the economy at the end of September was 139,700 higher than the bottom of the labour market in 2012.

This is impressive progress.

From a sectoral perspective, the news is equally good.

Of the 13 sectors analysed by the CSO, all but two recorded growth in the year to September.

The wholesale and retail sector and the financial services and real estate sector saw modest declines.

The construction sector was the strongest performer, with an annual increase of 15,000, or 13.3%. No surprises there.

Labour market data for October show that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate declined further to 8.9% of the labour force in that month, which is the first time that the rate has fallen under 9% since December 2008.

The number of people unemployed has declined by 135,700 since the peak in December 2011 and has fallen by 27,400 in the first ten months of this year.

This is good news on a whole range of fronts, including the savings in social expenditure and the easing of mental and financial problems endured by those who cannot obtain employment.

While all of this news is obviously good, there are still issues of serious concern.

It is obvious to any observer that the greater Dublin area is driving the economic recovery story disproportionately, witness the traffic chaos in Dublin in recent months.

Indeed the unemployment rate in Dublin stood at just 8% in the third quarter.

Contrast that number with the rate of 12.1% in the South-East and 12.4% in the Midlands.

The obvious economic and political challenge ahead is to ensure that the recovery spreads to the regions.

While there are signs that the regions have got better over the past year, there is still a distance to go. It cannot be taken for granted that a rising tide will lift all boats.

A proactive national policy approach will be required to ensure that regions such as the South East and Midlands share more in the national recovery.