Employment growth in the economy is slowing, according to the latest Quarterly National Household Survey from the Central Statistics Office.
In the three months from June to August, the number of people in employment grew by almost 68,000, or 3.3%, to total 2,140,900. This compares with growth of 3.9% in the previous quarter and to a rate of 4.2% in the third quarter of 2006.
The unemployment rate fell marginally to 4.7% from 4.8% the same time last year, but was up from 4.5% in the second quarter of this year.
The CSO says there was an increase of almost 27,000 (2.2%) in the number of men at work, while the number of women grew by 41,000 (4.6%) in the three month period.
The figures also reveal that non-Irish nationals are estimated to have accounted for 71.6% of the annual increase in the numbers in employment. The majority of these came from the 12 new EU accession states. Most the non-nationals worked in the hotels and restaurants sector (30%).
The CSO says that employment in the construction sector grew by 1.7% or 4,800 in the year to the third quarter. This compares to annual growth rates of 6.7% in the previous quarter and to a rate of 10.2% the same time last year.
The annual increase in construction was attributable to the self-employed, which showed an increase of 5,700 while the number of employees in the construction industry actually declined by 1,000.
Other sectors which showed strong employment growth included financial and other business services (up 28,700) and wholesale and retail trade (up 11,800).
The National Household Survey says that the number of unemployed in the third quarter rose by 1,300 to stand at 106,100. The numbers of long-term unemployed increased by 1,300 to 29,700 while the numbers of short-term unemployed fell by 200 to 76,000.
The number of self-employed people increased by 27,900 to 352,000 in the year, representing over 40% of the annual increase in employment. Almost 74% were men.
The survey also reveals that men worked an average of 40.8 hours a week in the third quarter, compared to women's 31.8 hours a week. On average, people worked 36.7 hours a week, down marginally from the 36.9 hours a week worked in the third quarter of 2006.
