The number of people at work in the Republic rose by 90,000 in the first quarter of the year, bringing the workforce to just under two million, according to figures released from the CSO this morning.
The 4.7 per cent increase in the workforce continues the growth in the workforce that saw successive employment increases in of 4.6 per cent and 3.9 per cent in the preceding two quarters.
The majority of the increase was as a result of foreign nationals joining the workforce. This group accounted for just under 50,000 of the employment increase.
According to the CSO, the number of people unemployed in the first quarter of 2006 was 88,200, an increase of 6,100 compared with the same period last year. More that 5,000 of these were foreign nationals.
Almost four out of five recently unemployed were females. The number of persons in short-term unemployment increased by 7,600 to 61,700 while those on long-term unemployment fell by 1,600 to 26,200.
During the first quarter the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.4 per cent once seasonally adjusted.
Female participation increased from 50.9 per cent to 52.2 per cent while the percentage of males in the labour force rose from 71.4 per cent to 72.5 per cent.
