Job creation at highest in five years

THE Irish economy is maintaining its dynamic performance with new figures showing the creation of 87,000 jobs last year - the highest annual increase in five years.

The jobs hike represented an overall growth rate of 4.7% in employment during a year when the number of migrant workers here from the 10 new EU countries more than doubled.

With the workforce at just under two million, migrant workers make up 9% of the labour force - that’s up by 2% from 2004.