By the end of March, according to the Central Statistics Offices, the rate of unemployment rate fell to 9.9%, below 10% for the first time in seven years.
Nearly 440,000 people were registered for part time work by March’s end, yet 114,800 of these were deemed “underemployed”, meaning they were working less hours than they were available for.
The Central Statistics Offices states that there was a 3.6% increase of people in full time employment when recorded in March. However there was a 2.4% decrease of those in part-time employment.
212,800 were unemployed four months into 2015, a decrease of 45,300 from the same time in 2014.
135,700 of the unemployed were men, a 17% decrease. 77,100 women were unemployed in March, an 18.5% decrase.
59.8% of the total unemployed were deemed long-term, meaning they were unemployed for over a year or more, a minor decrease on the figures in 2014 (60.5%).