Unemployment almost trebles in two years to 12.7%

THE unemployment rate has almost trebled from 4.6% to 12.7% in just two years, figures from the Central Statistics Office show.

According to the National Quarterly Household Survey, 15.6% of men and 9.1% of women eligible to work are unemployed. The number of people without work is the highest since 1994, when the figure was 14.7%.

According to the National Quarterly Household Survey, there were 1,922,400 people in work in the third quarter of 2009. That was 8.8% or 184,700 less than in the same quarter last year. Men made up the majority of the decrease at 142,400.