Employment grows at highest rate in four years

Employment in the Irish economy grew by 3.9 per cent in the 12 months to the end of March this year in the highest level of annual growth since 2000, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The CSO’s National Quarterly Household Survey shows the number of people in employment grew by 72,400 to reach 1,908,300 in the first quarter of 2005.

The figures show the number of women in employment increased by 40,000 over the year or 5.2 per cent, 17,600 of which were part-time.

The number of men in employment increased by 32,500 or 3 per cent over the same period. There were 82,100 persons unemployed in the first quarter of 2005, representing a decrease of 1500 in the year.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 4.2 per cent compared with 4.4 per cent in the previous quarter and 4.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2004.

The construction sector showed the strongest growth with over 30,800 new jobs being created in the year to the end of March, bringing the total amount of people employed in the industry to 233,100.

There was also strong growth in the financial and other business services sector -which recorded an 18,500 increase in jobs. However, the hotels and restaurant sector recorded a decline of just under 1,000.

Government chief whip Tom Kitt the figures provided a robust endorsement of the Government’s pro-jobs policies.

He said: "The Irish economy continues to perform remarkably well, notwithstanding some considerable uncertainty on the international scene.

"The challenge ahead is to maintain vigilance on the competitiveness front in order to secure the major gains of recent years and create new advantages for this economy and our society."