THE RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT slowed down in the third quarter of 2010, however long-term unemployment has doubled since the same period of last year.

In Q3 of 2009, the long-term unemployment rate was 3.2%. For the same period of 2010, the rate is 6.5%.

The latest CSO data shows that the total number of unemployed people at the end of the third quarter of 2010 is 299,000 (up 6.9% in the year), of which 140,400 are long-term unemployed.

Overall, there were 1,851,500 people unemployed in Q3 2010, an annual decrease of 70,900 (3.7%). This was down on the 4.1% annual decrease recorded for Q2 2010, and 8.8% in the year to Q3 2009.

In the third quarter of 2010 non-Irish nationals accounted for 12.2% of all persons aged 15 and over in employment. This compares with 13.7% in Q3 2009 and 15.4% in Q3 2008.

The CSO says that employment fell on an annual basis in 11 out of its 14 economic sectors, with the biggest decline recorded for the construction sector, where employment dropped by 36,800 (24.3%) over the year. That means employment in construction has dropped by 58% since its peak in Q2 2007.