Ballina in Co Mayo has the highest unemployment rate among Irish towns, according to the latest information from the 2006 Census.
It says 15.8% of Ballina's labour force are unemployed, but the Census uses a different way of calculating unemployment rates which usually has the effect of roughly doubling official figures.
Other towns with high unemployment rates were Tralee with 14.2% and Dundalk with 13.9% according to the Census.
During the final quarter of 2006 unemployment nationally was at 4.3%, according to official figures.
At the other end of the spectrum Malahide and Leixlip had the lowest rates.
The Census also found nine out of ten workers in the construction, defence and mining industries were men. Women dominated hairdressing (90%), primary teaching (86.6%) and social work (85%).
Of the towns and cities with populations over 10,000, Killarney had the highest proportion of workers involved in the hotel industry and Kilkenny was next in line with 10.5%.
Swords had the highest proportion of its population aged 15 years and over in the labour market.
