Employment in Ireland rose for the first time in four years in the final quarter of 2011, providing an unexpected boost for the euro zone member in its long battle to reduce its unemployment rate, the third-highest in the European Union. Seasonally-adjusted employment rose by 0.6 percent quarter-on-quarter, according to data released on Wednesday, the first increase since the fourth quarter of 2007, almost three years before Dublin signed up to an EU/IMF bailout in late 2010.
The rise in employment late last year followed a fall of 1.1 percent in the third quarter. However, it was not strong enough to keep pace with an increase in the labour force and make a dent in the headline unemployment rate, which remained at 14.6 percent.
The data showed net increases in jobs in half of the 14 sectors surveyed by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), led by an 8 percent rise in information, communications and technology, a 7 percent improvement in administration and support services and a 5 percent jump in financial, insurance and real estate. Unemployment in Spain stands at 23.3 percent and in Greece it is at 19.9 percent, figures released by the EU's statistics office Eurostat showed last week.
Comments
Comments are closed.