Unemployment in Galway, Mayo, and Roscommon has fallen over the past year, according to the latest CSO jobs figures, which show 4,700 fewer people out of work across the three counties.
The figures from the CSO’s Quarterly National Household Survey, which specifically measures unemployment, shows that year-on-year the unemployment rate in the west has fallen by more than one quarter from 10.6 per cent at the end of 2015 to 7.9 per cent at the end of 2016. This works out at 4,700 feer unemployed in the west.
The Minister for Gaeltacht Affairs and Natural Resources and Fine Gael Galway West TD Séan Kyne has welcomed the figures. “Unemployment is now at its lowest in Galway and the west since 2008,” he said. However he warned that the fall in unemployment and increase in the number of jobs created “cannot be taken for granted”.
He said: “A growing economy with more jobs means more resources for us to tackle the challenges facing us. With issues such as Brexit and the new US administration policies, it is vital that we continue our focus on supporting job creation, and in turn supporting communities, across the west.”
