Figures show fewer people unemployed last year

Unemployment fell by 15.6% last year - with 213,600 people out of work by the end of 2014, according to figures released today.

According to the Central Statistics Office's Quarterly National Household Survey, seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased from 11.1% to 10.4% over the last three months of last year..

There was an annual increase in employment of 1.5% or 29,100 in the year to the fourth quarter of 2014, bringing total employment to 1,938,900.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, employment increased by 9,700 (+0.5%) over the previous quarter.

This follows on from a seasonally adjusted increase in employment of 11,000 (+0.6%) in Q3 2014.

The long-term unemployment rate decreased from 7.2% to 5.7% over the year to Q4 2014.

Long-term unemployment accounted for 57.8% of total unemployment in Q4 2014 compared with 61.4% a year earlier and 59.9% in the fourth quarter of 2012.