Unemployment rate falls to 8.6% in January

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell marginally in January compared to the final month of 2015, new data from the Central Statistics Office showed today.

The rate for January was 8.6 per cent, or 186,700 people, compared to 8.8 per cent in December, a fall of 3,000 people.

Year on year, the figure was down 30,500 last month, leading to a fall in the rate of 1.5 percentage points.

The unemployment rate for men fell to 9.8 per cent in January, down from 11.7 per cent in 2015, while the rate for women was 7.2 per cent, a full per cent lower than the same month a year earlier. That brings to 116,300 and 70,400 the number of men and women respectively currently classed as unemployed.

Youth unemployment also saw a marginal decline, with the rate for those between the ages of 15 and 24 standing at 19.1 per cent, compared with 19.2 per cent in December.

Tánaiste Joan Burton welcomed the decline in the annual figures, but said there was more work to be done.

“Unemployment has fallen from a crisis peak of 15.1 per cent to 8.6 per cent now. Behind every new job, every return to work, is a person or family benefitting from the recovery in their own lives,” she said. “But we have more work to do, because we want to ensure a job for everyone who wants one.”

Isme, the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association, called on the incoming government to put small businesses at the top of the agenda and focus on cost competitiveness and taxation stability.

“Electioneering politicians are already succumbing to pressure to promise all sorts of electoral goodies in their quest to garner votes,” said Isme chief executive Mark Fielding. “They must remember that as public representatives they have a duty of care with the economy and this cannot include giveaway budgets and uneconomic pay increases. By putting SME business first, they will be helping to build an environment in which employment growth can flourish.”