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ECONOMIC GLOOM intensified yesterday as new figures showed that unemployment has soared to its highest rate since 1999, and a total of 500 jobs were lost in Co Cork and Co Offaly.

Accelerating job losses in the construction sector and cuts in manufacturing jobs led to a dramatic drop of 26,600 in the number of people employed in the March-May period compared to the previous three months, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said. This pushed up the official unemployment rate for the second quarter to 5.1 per cent and prompted calls for the Government to introduce retraining schemes for workers who are made redundant.