Unemployment up to 10.2% - CSO

The official unemployment rate rose to 10.2 per cent during the first three months of the year as the number of people out of work rose to 222,800, according to the Quarterly National Household Survey published by the Central Statistics Office this morning.

The number of people without work has increased by 113,400 over the last 12 months or by 103 per cent. Men accounted for over 85,000 of this increase.

The percentage of working age people – those between 15 and 64 – employed fell to 63.2 per cent from 68.4 per cent in the first quarter last year. At the end of March there were 1,965,600 people in employment, an annual decrease of 7.5 per cent.

The survey suggests that 77,000 full-time jobs have been lost in the construction sector while the retail and motor sector has seen the loss of 31,000 jobs.

Alan McQuaid, economist with Bloxham Stockbrokers, said the figures brought home the "reality and severity of the economic downturn".

He said the annual decrease in employment was the largest since the labour force survey was first undertaken in 1975. Mr McQuaid said it was clear that the only sector of the economy showing an increase in employment was the public sector "even though employees in that sector seem to think they have it tough".

Male unemployment stands at 12.8 per cent while that for female was 6.8 per cent in the period.

The estimated number of self-employed people at the end of March was 332,900, representing a fall of over 25,000 over the year. During the same quarter last year the number of self-employed people rose by almost 28,000.

During the first quarter the CSO estimates there were over 460,000 non-Irish nationals living in the State aged 15 or over, a fall of 20,800 or 4.3 per cent over the year.

Of these, 287,000 were classed as in employment, a fall of 55,700 over the year while 49,900 were deemed unemployed. Nationals from EU accession states showed a decline in employment of 41,600 and an increase in unemployment of 15,900.

The numbers unemployed have increased since the first quarter with Live Register data for May from the CSO showing that 402,100 people were claiming jobseekers’ benefit or assistance payments.

This brought the estimated jobless rate in May to 11.8 per cent, although the Live Register is not used to measure unemployment as it includes part-time and seasonal workers.