The CSO’s latest Labour Force Survey shows that all sectors of the economy bar three experienced employment growth in the past year. Photograph: Cyril ByrneWhatever misgivings you might have about economic growth – the endless pursuit of it, the climate crisis it appears to be driving – or its much-maligned yardstick, GDP , it has transformed the labour market here, brought us to near full employment and stemmed the tide of forced emigration, for so long a blight on the State.
The number of people at work in the Irish economy rose to an all-time high of 2.6 million in the first quarter of this year, according to the Central Statistics Office , growing by more than 100,000 in the space of a year against a backdrop of supply chain disruption, inflation, job cuts across the tech sector and war. As recently as 1961, the Republic’s entire population was just 2.8 million.
Unemployment has also fallen, to just 4.1 per cent, the lowest rate of joblessness seen in the Irish economy since 2001 and a rate that equates to full employment.