Number of people working rises by record 72,400

THE number of people employed rose by a record 72,400 in the past year - and more than half of these were women, according to the Central Statistics Office.

This is the highest rise in employment since the end of 2000 - bringing the total number of people working here to 1,908,300 at the end of March.

One of the main reasons for this massive growth in employment is the return to the workplace of women who have reared their families, said Goodbody Stockbrokers’ economist Philip O’Sullivan.

The number of women working rose by 40,000 in the past year and the number of married women in employment is over 50% for the first time.

“Employers are now prepared to be more flexible with the 17,600 new part-time women workers to facilitate job-sharing because of the difficulty in getting employees,” said Mr O’Sullivan.

And the wage rises in recent years were an added attraction for many women.

The construction industry showed the strongest growth, with over 30,800 jobs created in the past year, according to the CSO’s Quarterly National Household Survey.

There was also strong growth in the financial and business sector, where the number of jobs was up by 18,500.

The decline in agriculture, forestry and fishing continued, with a drop of 6,400 in the number of workers in the sector, and hotels and restaurants also saw a decline of 1,000.

The number of long-term unemployed fell by 2,700 to 27,800, but the short-term unemployed rose by 1,200 to 54,100.

The total number of unemployed in the first quarter stood at 82,100.

The labour force grew by an estimated 49,000 people, with more than half (25,000) of the increase the result of immigration.

While the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed welcomed this low unemployment rate, they raised concerns about the conditions of the new, part-time women workers.

If any of these women lose their jobs they cannot claim unemployment benefits, because the present regulations only allow people who are genuinely seeking full-time work to get this money, INOU general secretary Eric Conroy said.

“We want the system changed to be more inclusive and allow part-time people genuinely looking for work to also claim benefits,” he added.

The INOU is also concerned by the very high rate of youth long-term unemployment - 6,500.

He also pointed out that since these figures were compiled at the end of March, there have been significant job cuts announced by Bank of Ireland and Waterford Glass.

“The bank say they want to shed 2,000 jobs and 485 workers lost their jobs in Waterford Glass,” added Mr Conroy.