New jobs growth in the retail and banking sectors off-set the loss of more than 5,000 employees in the construction sector, new figures released today show.
At the end of 2007 there were 2.13 million people employed in the State, a rise of 3.2, according to the latest quarterly national household survey from the Central Statistics Office.
Over half the overall 66,800 jobs created in 2007 were part-time, with the majority of these being taken by women. Some 30,300, new, full-time roles were created.
At the end of December last year there were 101,000 people unemployed, an increase of 10,700, which, when seasonal factors are accounted for brings the unemployment rate to 4.6 per cent, up from the 4.5 per cent reported in the July to September period of 2007.
The number of building jobs fell by 5,600 last year, compared to an annual increase of 30,000 in 2006. Males accounted for all of the lost jobs.
According to the CSO, while the actual number of employees in the sector fell by over 15,000 this was off-set by an increase in self-employed construction staff, which grew by 9,500.
This brought the number of self-employed persons to 361,600, a rise of 39,100 over the course of the year.
Austin Hughes, chief economist at IIB Bank, said the Irish economy was creating jobs 1.5 times faster than the Eurozone and four times the rate of the UK and the US.
He said that even with a significant softening in new job creation this year, employment could still rise by 30,000. Mr Hughes said the sharp rise in part-time employment most likely reflects lifestyle choices rather than poorer job prospects.