Big unemployment drop in past year

The number of people out of work fell by 22,000 in the year to June, as the unemployment rate has fallen slightly to 13.7%.

According to the latest Quarterly National Household survey from the Central Statistics Office, there was an increase in full-time employment of 21,600 (+1.5%) and an increase in part-time employment of 12,100 (+2.8%).

There has also been an improvement in the number of people on the dole for a year or more, with the long-term unemployment rate down from 9.2% to 8.1% over the same period.

The youth unemployment rate (15 to 24 year-olds) fell from 33% to 29% over the year to June.

The long-term unemployed made up more than 58% of all people out of work in the second quarter of this year — a drop of over 3% for the same period in 2011. The total number of people in the labour force in the second quarter of this year was 2,170,700 — an increase of 11,500 (0.5%) over the year.

Despite the fall in joblessness, employment fell in five of the 14 economic sectors over the year, with the biggest falls seen in administration and support service activities (7.9%, or -5,000), transportation and storage (5.4%, or -4,900) and public administration and defence (-4.5%, or -4,500).

The number of employees in the public sector fell by 5,400 (1.4%) in the year to June, bringing the total number of employees in the public sector to 377,300.