Number of unemployed increases to almost 280,000
There are now 279,800 unemployed people in the country, a 75.5% increase in the past year.
The unemployment rate now stands at 12.7% over the year, a rate not seen since 1994 and 1995 when the unemployment rates were 14.7% and 12.2% respectively.
The rate of unemployment growth is slowing however, as in the previous quarter, an annual increase of 137,900 or 108.8% had been recorded.
The number of unemployed males increased by 89,200 (86.8%), with female unemployment increasing by 31,300 (55.3%).
On a seasonally-adjusted basis the number of persons unemployed increased by 13,100 between Q2 2009 and Q3 2009.
Short-term unemployment increased by 88,500 (75.4%), while long-term unemployment increased by 33,300 (87.4%) over the year.
The increase in short-term unemployment comprised an increase of 61,500 for males and 26,900 for females, while male and female long-term unemployment increased by 27,300 and 6,000 respectively.
There were 1,922,400 persons in employment in the third quarter of 2009, an annual decrease of 184,700 or 8.8%.
This compares with an annual decrease in employment of 8.2% in the previous quarter and a decline of 2.0% in the year to the third quarter of 2008.
Almost 55% of the fall in male employment is attributable to a decline of 77,900 in the construction sector.
The largest decrease in the employment rate occurred for those aged 20-24, which showed a decrease of 11.2% over the year to the third quarter of 2009.
