The latest figures for the jobs market show a continuing pattern of strong employment growth. More than 95,000 more people were at work in April than in the same month last year and the unemployment rate, as measured by the Central Statistics Office, fell below 5 per cent. Combined with other recent data, the figures clearly demonstrate that the economy continued to grow exceptionally strongly in the early months of this year.
Some parts of the State are approaching full employment. In Dublin, for example, the rate has fallen to 3.9 per cent. Given that there will always be some people moving from one job to another and others who do not have the skills to enter the employment market, the unemployment rate in any one region probably cannot fall much below this level - perhaps falling no lower than 3 per cent.
At the other end of the spectrum, unemployment in the Border counties is estimated at 7.3 per cent of the labour force and at 6.6 per cent in the Midlands.
Across the State, the survey found that just 81,500 people were unemployed, of which 67,000 were looking for full-time work. Little wonder, then, that many employers are finding it difficult to get employees. Encouragingly, the figures also show a continued fall in long-term unemployment, with just 29,700 people estimated to be out of work for more than one year - a 14,000 fall on the same period last year.
What are the policy implications of these figures? The most obvious is that they underline the problems of labour shortage, now affecting almost every sector. The return of many married women to the workforce is helping to fill many of the jobs on offer, as is the return of former emigrants. However with the economy continuing to grow, the issue of labour shortage will not go away.
Part of the Government response is to encourage inward migration. This helps to answer the demands of business but, as pointed out by the Economic and Social Research Institute, could exacerbate the problems of house price inflation and congestion. The Government must thus plan its policy in this area in a co-ordinated fashion.
The case for trying to spread economic activity more evenly across the State is also compelling. IDA Ireland has already re-oriented its policy, offering much greater support to firms locating in higher-unemployment regions.
The difficulty, however, is that many parts of the State do not have the infrastructure, the business support services nor the pool of skilled labour to attract investment. The National Development Plan is seeking to address the infrastructure deficit in many parts of the State and seeing it through must be a priority for the Government. So must the completion of the Government's National Spatial Strategy, on which work is now underway and which will plan the spread of activity across the State.