South East remains Ireland’s biggest unemployment blackspot despite fall in numbers out of work
The South East region remains Ireland’s biggest unemployment blackspot despite the number of people out of work been cut in half since the height of the recession.
New Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures released this week shows unemployment in the regions stands at 7.3% at the end of the third quarter
Just 14,900 people over the age of 15 seeking employment are out of work in the region currently, which is down from 17,400 for the same period a year ago.
More than 190,000 people in the South East are currently employed, an increase from 186,500 at the end of the third quarter in 2018.
The only other region with such high unemployment is the Midlands (Westmeath, Longford, Offaly and Laois) with 7.1% unemployment.
Dublin records the lowest unemployment figures in the country at 4.5%, closely followed by the Mid West (Tipperary, Limerick and Clare) at 4.7%.
The figures also reveal the amount out of work in the region has halved since the height of the recession – Q3 2012, when 31,200 people were out of work. This represented 16.6% of people able to work in the counties of Kilkenny, Waterford, Wexford and Carlow.
Nationally, the CSO’s Labour Force Survey Quarter 3, 2019 revealed employment was up 2.4% or 53,700 to 2,326,900 in the year to Q3, 2019.
The unemployment rate has now dropped below 5% for the first time since the recession hit in 2008 and is back close to 2005 levels. The unemployment rate still has a little way to go to reach the record lows of 2001.
