News & Events

An Tánaiste and Minister Ring welcome the continuing strong growth in employment while noting that vigilance is needed to sustain the pace of jobs growth in an uncertain environment

  • 48,000 more people at work since this time last year
  • Unemployment rate for August at 6.1%
  • 4 out of every 5 jobs being added are outside Dublin

An Tánaiste and Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Frances Fitzgerald TD and Minister for Rural and Community Development, Michael Ring TD today (Friday) welcomed the latest Quarterly National Household Survey figures from the Central Statistics Office, showing that employment continues to increase strongly with 48,000 more people employed in the year to Q2 2017.

Speaking today, An Tánaiste and Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation said: “These figures are very encouraging and show that we are on the right path to full employment. My priority as Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation is to ensure that more jobs are created across all regions and that the standard of living is improved for all our citizens.

As the economy continues to recover, the growth in full-time job growth has remained very strong, with an increase of 77,800 over the last year and a decrease in part-time employment of 29,700. Importantly 79% of those at work are in full-time positions, an increase from 77% in 2015 and 2016. The key now is to continue to drive growth in quality jobs.”

The figures show that there are now 2,063,000 people at work in Ireland.

The figures from the CSO today also show that unemployment continues to fall in all regions. An Tánaiste noted: "The rate of unemployment in August, at 6.1% is the lowest since 2008, with the numbers unemployed and the unemployment rates declining in all regions.

The Government set a target to have an additional 135,000 additional people at work outside Dublin by 2020 and over the last year 38,500 or 80 per cent of the new jobs are outside Dublin.

But there is more to be done to ensure that enterprises can respond to Brexit and to secure sustainable full employment. As Tánaiste and Minister for Business, Enterprise & Innovation, I am keen to adopt a whole-of-government approach to supporting labour market participation, providing people with the appropriate skills for the jobs market and providing better, more affordable childcare.”

Employment grew in 11 out of 14 economic sectors – the largest annual increases were recorded in the construction (10,400), healthcare (8,900), education (6,200), ICT (8,100) and accommodation and hospitality (6,200). Employment in Industry increased by 4,100 and in Professional, scientific and technical areas by 4,500, on a seasonally adjusted basis.

An Tánaiste continued: “Today’s figures provide evidence of continual structural change in sectoral employment. Employment growth was broadly based in retail and accommodation, industry and ICT and in construction. We must also ensure that a regional spread of enterprise activity is achieved, within the limits that exist to attracting certain types of businesses to different regions.

The positive results of the latest CSO employment figures are an important contribution to the overall targets the Government has set out in the Programme for a Partnership Government and Action Plan for Jobs. However, the uncertainty in the external environment and the context of Brexit means that vigilance is needed to sustain the pace of jobs growth and to improve our competitiveness.”

Commenting on the figures, Minister for Rural and Community Development, Michael Ring TD said: “I am delighted to see that 4 out of every 5 jobs being added are outside of Dublin. The Action Plan for Rural Development which I launched earlier is committed to ensuring that the economic recovery is felt throughout Ireland and the creation of rural jobs is vital in order to achieve this. An Tánaiste’s Department has put significant amount of work into ensuring that the Action Plan for Jobs delivers for rural Ireland. I will continue to work closely with the Tánaiste to help ensure job growth in rural Ireland.”

Ends

For further information, please contact: Press Office, Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation ph. 6312200 or press.office@dbei.ie