The employment rate for females in the Irish labour force has breached the 60% level for the first time.
The latest quarterly national household survey from the Central Statistics Office, for the third quarter of this year, shows 60.3% of women aged 15 to 64 are now in employment.
The figures show that overall employment continues to grow strongly, up by 83,000, or 4.2%, to just over two million in the year to the end of August. Almost half of that growth came from non-Irish workers. Unemployment was up just over 8,000 to 104,800.
Economists said the rate of employment growth had slowed in the summer period, but was still higher than in most other economies.
There are now an estimated 280,300 foreign nationals aged 15 or more in the country, 70% of whom employed, with 5% unemployed. The figures show that people from the new EU accession states were the fastest growing category.
But the numbers of non-Irish nationals from outside the EU in the labour force has also increased significantly so far this year. Employment grew most strongly in the construction and health sectors, with these areas accounting for just over half of total employment growth.
The survey also revealed that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased from 4.4% to 4.5% over the quarter.
