Minister for the Diaspora and International Development Ciaran Cannon has welcomed data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO ) showing Ireland at its highest ever level of employment.
The East Galway TD has said the figures make it clear that the economic engine is working well and that the country is approaching full employment.
Minister Cannon said ‘I am very pleased to note yesterday’s Labour Force Survey data from the CSO which shows a continuing strong momentum in the labour market with robust jobs growth reported in the second quarter of 2018’.
“This marks the highest level of employment ever within the State. These figures underscore the success achieved in the efforts we have made in recent years to get people back to work and show that the number of people at work continues to expand, with 74,100 additional jobs created over the year to the second quarter of 2018’.
“It is clear that the economic engine is working well, that Government policy is having the correct effect and that we are moving towards full employment. It is especially encouraging that unemployment continues to fall, with the unemployment rate reaching 5.9% in July. We are also seeing declines in long-term unemployment, which now stands at 2.0% and the youth unemployment rate which, while still too high is at 15.4%,” he said.
“We are also seeing Galway continuing to attract investment leading to jobs-growth with related announcements by companies, in recent months, such as Cisco, Dawnlough Limited and EY. We have now seen 24 consecutive quarters of employment growth which remains broad-based and the Government are determined that these positive trends continue,” he said, adding that while the economy is approaching full employment, they will continue to steer a steady, prudent and sustainable way forward.”
