The state’s unemployment rate has dropped below nine per cent for the first time since the last quarter of 2008.
According to a report from the Central Statistics Office, the official unemployment rate fell to 9.1 per cent at the end of September, and the rate for October has now been revised down to 8.9 per cent.
According to the figures, the rate has fallen over the last three months to September, and is now lower than the average EU unemployment rate.
In the year up until September, the survey shows that there was an increase in employment, with total employment now estimated at 1,983,000 – the highest number since the first quarter of 2010.
The annual increase of 56,000 in employment was represented by an increase of 33,300 in male employment and an increase of 22,800 in female employment over the year.
Elsewhere, the number of long-term unemployed has fallen in the last year, with 109,000 people classed as long-term unemployed – a decline of 29,400.
