Unemployment rate down to 4.2%

Unemployment fell by 4,800 between the third and fourth quarters of 2006; and declined by 2,600 so far in 2007, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) today.

The Quarterly National Household Survey for the fourth quarter 2006 showed that the overall unemployment rate is now down to 4.2%.

Construction jobs had the strongest employment growth (28,400), with the health sector also showing significant activity (up 18,700).

The Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed (INOU) welcomed the news, but expressed concern that long-term unemployment remains at 1.3% and that the vast majority of the year-on-year change was amongst the short-term unemployed.

"The NAPS had set a target date of 2007 to eliminate long-term unemployment and as we can see from today’s figures that is unlikely to be met," said INOU senior policy officer Bríd O’Brien.

"It’s particularly worrying then that in the recently launched National Action Plan for Social Inclusion no such target exists."