THE NUMBER of people in work continued to shrink in the second quarter of 2010, but the decline was the smallest since the recession began, according to the most comprehensive survey of jobs trends.
There were 7,600 fewer people in employment between April-June compared to three months earlier, the Quarterly National Household Survey shows.
At the height of the shake-out in the labour market in early 2009, quarterly job losses stood at 10 times that figure.
The Central Statistics Office survey, released yesterday, found that the numbers at work in the second quarter stood at 1,863,200.
This figure, which is adjusted for seasonal factors, represents a loss of more than 275,000 jobs since employment peaked in the final months of 2007.
The sector most affected by job losses has been construction, with more than half of the jobs in the sector having been shed since the peak in late 2007.
Reflecting the economy-wide picture, the rate of job losses in the building industry slowed in the second quarter.
But with a decline of 3,300 net jobs compared to the first quarter of the year, the sector y continues to account for a large share of total job losses.
The manufacturing industry shed an even larger 4,400 jobs in the second quarter. This comes despite record levels of industrial production in the same period.
The numbers without jobs across the economy increased by 6,300 on the quarter. This pushed the rate of unemployment up to 13.2 per cent, from 12.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2010.
In absolute terms, 284,500 people were jobless in the second quarter of the year.
Statisticians are at pains to point out that the survey is the best measure of unemployment, not the monthly Live Register, which measures the number of people claiming unemployment benefits.
Many people who are employed part time are entitled to claim benefits. In August, the latest month for which Live Register figures are available, the register stood at 455,000 in seasonally adjusted terms.
The total labour force, which includes both those at work and those seeking work, continues to fall. The decline on the first quarter of the year, which stood at just under 4,000, was small compared to other quarterly changes since the start of the recession. The shrinking of the workforce is caused by a number of factors, including those moving into education and those who give up seeking employment.
Figures on the geographic spread of employment show that the numbers at work increased in the southeast and the southwest.
In the State’s six other regions, employment continued to decline. These figures are not seasonally adjusted and the increase in the south is likely to reflect increased hiring in the tourism and hospitality industry.
The southeast had the highest rate of jobless among the State’s eight regions, at 18.1 per cent in the second quarter. Dublin had the lowest rate, at 11.5 per cent.