The labour force in
Despite the rapid growth, all of the increase in the labour force was absorbed, as total employment rose by an even higher 5.8% to reach 377,948.
The number of people unemployed fell by 1.6% to 15,428, yielding an unemployment rate of 3.9%, compared with 4.5% in 2006.
In the fourth quarter alone, the labour force rose by 5.5% compared with the same quarter of 2006 to 398,903; employment rose by 6.3% to 384,852 and the number of unemployed fell by 0.4% to 14,051, yielding an unemployment rate of 3.5%.
The unemployment rate for young persons aged 15-24 was 10.2% in the fourth quarter compared with 10.5% in the corresponding quarter of 2006.
Source: Financial Mirror
Of the total unemployed, 62% had searched for a job for a period of less than 6 months; 16.3% for a period of 6-11 months, while 21.7% had searched for a job for one year and over.