The country's labour force grew by 99,000 - or 5% - in the year to the third quarter of 2005 to a total of 2,086,500, while the number of people in employment also grew by 5%, or 96,200, to just under two million.
According to the Quarterly National Household survey from the Central Statistics Office, the labour force now accounts for 63.2% of all persons aged 15 and over. This compares with 61.8% in the third quarter of 2004.
The CSO says there were 96,700 people unemployed in the third quarter of the year, up 2,800 on the year. The rise in joblessness was dominated by the increase in the numbers of short-term unemployed, most of whom were women.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 4.3%, unchanged from the second quarter of the year.
Ireland's employment growth continues to outpace its European counterparts. The CSO says that between the second quarters of 2004 and 2005 the country's employment level grew by 5.1% and its labour force by 4.9%. The comparable figures for the 15 EU states are 1.5% and 1.3%.
The data reveals that employment in the construction and financial sectors continued to grow strongly with 30,400 and 20,200 new jobs added respectively. All other areas in the services sector recorded significant employment growth over the year.
However, there was a sharp fall of 11,000 jobs in the numbers engaged in other production industries, while there was little or no change in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector.
The CSO says that almost one in four new migrants to the country found jobs in the construction industry, while increases were also recorded in other production industries, wholesale and retail trade and hotels and restaurants. Around three quarters of the new migrants came from the 10 new EU states.
The figures also show that during the three months from June to August, the number of women in employment rose by 48,200 - a rise of 6.1% - of which 18,000 was accounted for by a rise in the number of part-time workers. The number of men in employment increased by 4.4%, or 48,000.
Strong employment growth was particularly evident among the older age groups. The employment rate for men aged between 60-64 rose from 53.7% to 57% while the rate for women in the 55-59 age group rose from 41.4% to 45.4%. However, the most significant employment rise was witnessed in the 25-34 age group which increased by over 36,000 in the 12 months to the third quarter of 2005.
The number of people describing their usual situation as 'at work' grew by 93,000 in the year to 1,890,600. This compares to an increase of 57,100 the same time last year.
The numbers recorded as 'on home duties' fell by 18,800 to 545,800 in the year while the number of students showed a fall of 4,400 in the year to 346,000. The figures show that 25.1% of students had a job compared to 23.8% for the same quarter last year.
Today's data shows that the average working week in the third quarter of 2005 was 37.2 hours, which was unchanged from the same quarter a year ago.
IIB economist Austin Hughes describes the growth in employment as 'staggering', but points out the dependence on the construction sector appears to be easing gradually, accounting for just over 30% of the total increase, down from 39% in the previous quarter. The economist says the strong growth in retailing suggests a fierce battle for market share ahead of the ending of SSIAs and Groceries Order.
Bloxham economist Alan McQuaid is forecasting a slight slowdown in the final quarter, leading to a total jobs increase of 87,000 for the year. But he said what he called 'the value-added' of many of these jobs remained open to question. 'Economic growth in the first half of 2005 has been a lot weaker than one would expect from such a strong employment rise, and it is hard to see much of a change in this situation in the latter part of the year,' he says.
