Over 140,000 are long-term jobless

THE ranks of the long-term unemployed have grown to over 140,000, the Irish workforce’s highest ever.

The doubling of those out of work for 12 months or more in the year to the end of September was revealed in the Central Statistics Office (CSO) Quarterly National Household Survey published yesterday.

The number in long-term unemployment now stands at 6.5% of the total workforce compared with 3.2%, or 69,000, at the same time last year.