THE AVERAGE EMPLOYMENT level in the Republic of Ireland fell by 4.2% in 2010, new figures released by the Central Statistics Office reveal.

According to their quarterly national household survey, the average employment level in 2010 was 80,700, or 4.2% lower than in 2009.

Employment declined by 3.4% (-64,500) to 1,823,200 in the year to the end of 2010.

The greatest fall in participation rates was seen among people in the youngest age groups, with the participation rate for the 15-19 year old age group falling from 18.9% to 17.3% over the year.

A larger decrease was recorded for those aged 20-24 with the participation rate falling from 69.5% to 65.9% over the year to the fourth quarter of 2010.

The greatest reduction in employment continues to be in the construction sector, where employment dropped by -19.6%. The report states:

construction employment has now fallen to 109,900, a drop of almost 60% from its peak level of 269,900 in the middle of 2007.

Other notable declines in employment were recorded in the ‘financial, insurance and real estate activities’ and ‘industry’ sectors where the numbers employed fell by 8,800 (-8.3%) and 8,400 (-3.4%) respectively.

The figures also reveal:

• Unemployment increased by 31,600 or 11.8% annually to 299,000, with male unemployment increasing by 14,400 (+7.6%) to 203,500 and female unemployment increasing by 17,200 (+21.9%) to 95,600.

• The long-term unemployment rate increased from 4.1% to 7.3% over the year the end of 2010, accounting for 51.5% of total unemployment compared with 33.3% a year earlier. This is the first time that long-term unemployment has accounted for more than 50% of unemployment since the late 1990′s.

• There were 2,122,200, in the labour force, representing an annual decrease of 1.5% (-33,000). This is the first occasion that the employment rate has dropped below 60% since the first quarter of 1998 when the employment rate was 59.5%.

• Construction continued to account for over 40% of the overall employment drop and over 50% of the male employment drop. This continues a pattern seen since 2008.

• The number of self-employed persons was 296,900 in the period surveyed, which was an annual decrease of 26,300 or 8.1%.

• Overall employment in the public sector fell by 3,800 (-0.9%) between the end of 2009 and the end of 2010.

• Short-term unemployment decreased by 32,000 (-18.3%) over the year to 143,000.

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