The number of people in employment grew by 0.6 per cent (10,000) on a seasonally adjusted basis in the fourth quarter of 2011, the Central Statistics Office has said.

The increase, reported in the CSO's Quarterly National Household Survey, is the first such rise since the fourth quarter of 2007. It followed a seasonally adjusted fall in the numbers in work of 14,400 (-0.8 per cent) in the third quarter of last year.

The survey shows that the number of people working in the State fell by 15,400 or 0.8 per cent last year to just over 1.8 million.

A total of 302,000 people were unemployed at the end of December - an annual increase of 1 per cent. On average, 304,200 were unemployed throughout the year, up 4.3 per cent on 2010.

The fall in employment was contributed to by a decrease of 6,100 or (0.6 per cent) in the number of men working, with the number of women with jobs decreasing by 9,400 or 1.1 per cent.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, employment grew by 10,000 (0.6%) in the final quarter of 2011 compared with a seasonally adjusted fall of 14,400 (-0.8 per cent) in the previous quarter.

This was the first such increase since the fourth quarter of 2007.

The unadjusted unemployment rate increased from 14.1 per cent to 14.3 per cent over the year. The unadjusted rate of unemployment among men was unchanged at 17.3 per cent and up 0.5 per cent among women to 10.6 per cent.

Employment fell in eight of the fourteen economic sectors over the year, with the greatest rate of decline recorded in the education (-9,100 or -6 per cent), wholesale and retail trade (-5,400) and transportation and storage (-4,700) sectors.

The largest increase was recorded in the information and communication sector where employment increased by 5,800 (+8.4 per cent).

The long-term unemployment rate increased from 7.3 per cent to 8.6 per cent last year.

The rate of decline in the labour force slowed last year to a drop of 12,400 (0.6 per cent), down from a fall of 33,000 (1.5 per cent) in the year to December 2010.

The fall in employment was largely concentrated among younger people with the number of workers aged 25-34 falling by 18,100 (3.4 per cent) and 20-24 falling 11,600 (9.1 per cent).

The reduction in the number of self-employed persons (-11,100) accounted for just over 72 per cent of the overall decrease employment.

The CSO said the number of public sector employees declined by 9,800 (-2.4 per cent) in the year to December, bringing the total number of employees in the public sector to 392,300.

The total reduction in employment in the public sector over the three years from quarter four 2008 to quarter four 2011 was 35,000 (-8.2 per cent).

The number of employees in the private sector increased by 0.8 per cent last year, compared with a decrease of 3 per cent in the previous year.

The total reduction in the number of employees in the private sector over the three years from quarter four 2008 to quarter four 2011 was 154,900 (-12.0 per cent).

NCB Stockbrokers said that "one quarter does not make a trend" but that the employment figures for the final quarter of 2011 were "a major positive for the Irish economy".

KBC economist Austin Hughes said the fact that the scale of layoffs was easing alongside limited job creation meant that job losses and gains were coming into balance.

However, small firms group Isme said Government "spin doctors" would use the figures as a sign of stabilisation in the economy but that emigration was providing for a "false reduction" in the numbers out of work.