Labour force breaks 2.5m barrier for first time

08/09/2011.....news/finance....archive.... A queue for unemployment benefit outside Bishop Street Social Welfare Office in Dublin this morning. Photograph: Frank Miller / THE IRISH TIMES dole unemployment assistance labour laid off jobless jobseekers

The Republic’s labour force broke the 2.5 million barrier for the first time in the State’s history in the opening three months of 2022, say statisticians.

The Central Statistics Office’s (CSO) Labour Force Survey for the first quarter of 2022 shows that the number of adults at work grew 275,000, or 12.3 per cent, to 2,505,800 over the three months.

There were 126,700 people out of work, amounting to an unemployment rate of 4.8 per cent.

Irish people also worked a record 80.8 million hours a-week during the first quarter, as absences fell while the labour force numbers grew, the CSO said.