Just under 18 per cent of those who signed on the Live Register in the first three months of 2009 had secured alternative employment by the end of June, new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show.
An analysis of Live Register found that of the additional 155,215 people signing on during the quarter, 59.1 per cent remained on the register by mid-year.
Some 17.6 per cent had found a new job, with more than half (or 53 per cent) having to move to a different economic sector to secure employment.
A further 4 per cent of those who left the register were receiving social welfare illness payments, and 0.3 per cent were drawing a State pension.
The remaining 19.1 per cent included those who had left the country, returned to education or became self-employed.
The analysis is based on records of the Department of Social and Family Affairs and the CSO.
The figures also revealed a high number of young people signing on, with over a quarter of entrants under the age of 25. At the end of 2008, one in eight of those in employment were in this age group.
However, under-25s had a higher rate of re-employment than those outside the age group, at 20.9 per cent. Women were more likely to be employed than men.
Non-Irish nationals also featured heavily in the Live Register inflow, accounting for 25.2 per cent of entrants. In contrast, only 14.9 per cent of those who secured work at the end of 2008 were non-Irish.
Some sectors were over-represented in the number of workers signing on to the register. Five sectors accounting for 82.7 per cent of the number of people joining the register were responsible for only 59.1 per cent of total employment.
Construction, which only accounted for 11.4 per cent of employment in the fourth quarter of 2008, was near the top of the list, with 19.4 per cent of entrants to the Live Register in the first three months of 2009 coming from this sector.
Similarly, financial and other business services accounted for 13.9 per cent of employment in the final quarter of 2008.
Production industries and the wholesale and retail trade were also hard hit, with 18.5 per cent and 17.1 per cent respectively of new entrants coming from those sectors.
