Unemployment rate drops by one-third since 2012 - Costello

5 November 2014

by Cllr Joe Costello

Labour TD, Joe Costello, has welcomed the continued reduction in unemployment as shown by today’s Live Register CSO figures.

Deputy Costello said: “The latest figures show that unemployment in October stood at 11 percent, down a third from a crisis peak of 15.1 percent in 2012. The Live Register has now fallen by almost 40,000 in the last 12 months, and the unemployment rate is well below the EU average. This starkly contrasts to the situation created under the previous Fianna Fail-led Government, when 250,000 people lost their jobs between 2008 and 2011.

“Yesterday, the EU Commission forecast that Ireland will record the highest economic growth in the EU this year. The projection of 4.6 percent economic growth, combined with today’s positive employment figures, show the progress of Labour in Government in fixing our broken economy and creating employment.

“While these figures are welcome, we must redouble our efforts to get people back to work. We must ensure that those who lost jobs during the crisis can now benefit from the strong economic recovery which is underway, and that those young people who had to emigrate in search of work can now return home.”