The number of people at work has surpassed 2 million as the rate of job creation exceeds levels attained at the height of the Celtic Tiger boom, according to the latest official figures.
The latest Quarterly National Household Survey released today shows there are 2,014,800 people in the labour force which represents an annual increase of 94,500 or 4.9 per cent. This is the highest year-on-year increase recorded in absolute terms since the survey began, surpassing the record annual increases attained at the peak of the late nineties boom.
Over the past ten years the labour force has grown by 556,000 or over 38 per cent, the number of females increased by over 300,000, or almost 55 per cent, while males were up by 254,000 or 28 per cent.
Increased labour force participation, especially among women, was the key driver of growth during the Celtic Tiger era.
In the past year the female participation rate rose strongly from 49.4 per cent to 51.4 per cent and is now almost 12 percentage points higher than the 39.7 per cent recorded in 1995.
The male participation rate increased over the year from 70.9 per cent to 71.8 per cent and is now almost 4 percentage points higher than 1995 when it stood at 68 per cent
Despite the strength of job creation the level of unemployment was broadly unchanged on the year at 62,000, with the unemployment rate at 4.3 per cent. This indicates that all of the jobs created were filled by new entrants to the labour force, pushing the total labour supply over 2 million for the first time.
A breakdown of the employment figures highlights the shift in job opportunities from traditional sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing to construction and services.
The number of people in the "production industries" classification has fallen by 12,000 to 294,000 since March 2005 while construction has risen by over 50,000 and financial services by 30,000 and "other services" by over 21,000.