Immigrants hardest hit by downturn

DESPITE being better qualified than Irish people, immigrants are far more likely to be unemployed or in lower paid jobs.

A new study by the Integration Centre and the ESRI, to be published today, discovered non-Irish nationals have been even harder hit by the current recession — suffering more job losses and a higher unemployment rate.

At the start of 2010, their unemployment rate was 16% compared with less than 13% for Irish people. More recent data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows the gap grew over 2010.