Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Regina Doherty, T.D., today welcomed the latest monthly unemployment figures, which were announced today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The monthly unemployment rate has dropped consistently over the past year and has now fallen to 5.3%, as of November 2018. This is down from 6.4% in November 2017.
The seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed was 127,600 in November 2018 - a decrease of 23,700 when compared to November 2017. This is the lowest figure since February 2008.
"It's nearly eleven years since the unemployment rate was this low. Indeed, from the peak levels of mid-2011, the number of people unemployed has now fallen by two thirds. Clearly, the economy is moving in the right direction and we are enjoying falls in the unemployment rate we could never have anticipated just a few short years ago.
See Note to Editors below for some examples of the assistance and support provided by the Department to jobseekers and employers.
JobsIreland.ie is the Department's national recruitment website. The service is administered by Department staff and provides a free online vacancy advertising and candidate matching service for employers who wish to advertise job vacancies, apprenticeships and community employment (CE) schemes. YESS vacancies can now also be advertised on JobsIreland.ie. The service is available to all employers irrespective of size or industry sector. To date in 2018, 77,441 positions have been advertised. For candidates, JobsIreland.ie provides the opportunity to register and search for all the latest jobs in the market place. JobsIreland.ie lets candidates create an online CV and then notifies them automatically of vacancies that match their profile.
Additionally, the Department hosts numerous Jobs Fairs and events throughout the year, with our annual Jobs Week a particular focus. For Jobs Week 2017, the Department organised and hosted 100 events in every region, which brought 400 employers and 16,000 jobseekers together. Jobs Week 2018 saw 134 events, with 450 employers and 14,500 jobseekers attending. The Department also co-hosts a number of events with EURES, the European Recruitment Service – from the start of 2017 to date in 2018, there have been three on-site and five online EURES Jobs Fairs. The Department will continue to focus on working with employers throughout the country to ensure that jobseekers can avail of the many jobs that are being created every week by employers.