The unemployment rate has fallen to 7.2pc – the lowest level since August 2008 – but youth unemployment remains high.
According to the latest CSO figures released yesterday, the rate of unemployment was 7.2pc last month, down from 7.3pc in November 2016.
This was significantly lower than the rate of 8.9pc recorded the previous year.
Youth unemployment among people aged 15 to 25 was at 14.5pc, twice the overall rate. However, it had dropped from 15.4pc in November.
The overall jobless rate has now fallen for seven months in a row, and is down from a high of 15.2pc at the beginning of 2012.
Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar welcomed the figures and pledged to move another 20,000 people from welfare to work in 2017.
Ian Talbot, chief executive of Chambers Ireland, said it was “positive news” but youth unemployment must be addressed as a legacy of the recession.
Source; Irish Independent