The Republic has the best job creation record of any EU member-state during this decade. A study shows Irish employment grew by 15 per cent in 1991-96, while EU employment overall fell by 2 per cent.
School-leavers, women and long-term unemployed have a better chance of finding a job in the booming Irish economy than anywhere else in the EU.
The contrast of Irish boom and EU gloom is most marked when only full-time employment (FTE) jobs are taken into account. Between 1991 and 1996, Irish FTE grew by 13 per cent, while FTE jobs in the EU fell by 4 per cent.
Only Greece and The Netherlands experienced strong employment growth between 1991 and 1996, at around 6.5 per cent each. But in The Netherlands practically all employment growth was in part-time jobs.
The Republic's spectacular employment growth has had a significant effect on unemployment. In 1991 unemployment was running at 14.2 per cent, almost twice the EU average of 8.2 per cent. Now the EU average rate of employment has risen to almost 11 per cent, while Irish unemployment has fallen to 9.4 per cent.
Long-term unemployment patterns have also changed. In 1991 people who were long-term unemployed made up 9 per cent of the Irish labour force, compared with an EU average of 4 per cent. By 1996, Irish long-term unemployed comprised 7 per cent of the labour force, but the EU average had risen to 5.3 per cent. In 1997 the Irish figure is estimated to have fallen again, to 5.3 per cent, almost the EU average rate.
The figures for young unemployed tell a similar story. In 1991 Irish youth unemployment stood at 22 per cent, compared with an EU average of 16 per cent. In 1993 youth unemployment in the Republic peaked at 25 per cent. But by 1998 Irish youth unemployment had fallen to 14 per cent, as against a new EU average of 20 per cent.
This major comparative study of Ireland's employment growth with our EU neighbours, "The Irish labour market in the EU context", was prepared by FAS, the State training agency, earlier this year as part of the national action plan on unemployment and has yet to be published.
The report says the recession that followed the Gulf War in the early 1990s left the Republic relatively unaffected. "While unemployment has fallen significantly in other EU member-states, particularly the UK, Spain, The Netherlands, Denmark and Finland, only Ireland and The Netherlands have achieved lower unemployment through employment growth. In the other countries unemployment fell as a result of smaller labour forces due to lower participation rates."
The rapidly rising number of active workers in the Irish economy are being drawn from school and college graduates, women, returned emigrants and new immigrants, as well as the long-term unemployed. The role of women is particularly marked, in 1991-96 there was a 30 per cent increase in Irish women working outside the home.
In 1991 only 36 per cent of women worked outside the home. By 1996 the figure had risen to 43 per cent. The EU average remained stagnant at 50 per cent.
Long-term prospects for Irish growth are also good. After 2005 a fall in the EU working age population of around 0.1 per cent per annum is expected, with potential adverse effects on economic growth. In contrast the State's active labour force is expected to continue growing after that date by at least 0.4 per cent per annum.
The EU Commission is worried at the prospect of an ageing EU workforce, because older workers are less able to adapt to technical change. While the trends reflected in the FAS report suggest there is long-term convergence between Ireland and the rest of the EU, the report says changes associated with an ageing population "are unlikely to arise in Ireland over the next decade at least".