Jobless total falls for fifth month
The number of people without work in Ireland dropped for the fifth month in a row after adjustment for seasonal factors, the Central Statistics Office reported today.
The new total of 169,700 for December represented 4.7% of the workforce, unchanged from November and down from a 2003 high of 4.9% in July, when an upward trend in unemployment was halted.
Ahead of the seasonal adjustment, the December returns showed an increase of more than 6,000 in the number of people receiving unemployment benefits and highlighted throughout the year the highest average unemployment rate since 1999.
But overall, the latest figure was regarded as a signal of a strengthening economic recovery following a decline in the performance of the Celtic Tiger and was better than had been anticipated by analysts.
