The latest unemployment figures from the Central Statistics Office show another record number of people signing on to the Live Register in November.
16,900 people signed up for unemployment payments or Social Welfare credits last month. This brings the total to 277,200 - the highest level since September 1996.
In the year to November, the Live Register saw an unadjusted increase of 106,864 - a jump of 66.1% and the biggest 12-month increase since records began in 1967. This compares with an unadjusted increase of 94,502 (60%) in the year to October.
Today's figures show that another 13,600 men signed on the Live Register in November, reflecting the ever slowing construction industry. There was also an increase of 3,300 women.
The CSO says that the standardised unemployment rate in November rose to 7.8% from a rate of 7.4% in October. This was the highest rate since April 1998.
Bloxham's economist Alan McQuaid described today's CSO figures as 'truly awful'. He says the latest figures confirm the worsening labour market trend of recent months.
Apart from the sharp fall in construction employment, other sectors like manufacturing, retail, transport, and financial services are starting to feel the pinch too, he says.
He says redundancies notified to the Department of Trade, Enterprise and Employment were up almost 122% in the year in November at 5,271, while in the year to date, redundancies notified totalled 37,296, up just over 57% on an annual basis.
He also warns that the likelihood is that things will get worse before they get better and predicts that the jobless rate will jump into double digits in 2000.
Ulster Bank's economist Lynsey Clemenger says that no sector will be immune from job losses, as the economy sinks further into recession next year.
She says that the continued rise in females claiming benefits, the total of which is up 45% on November 2007, is indicative of the more broad based weakness in the Irish labour market.
She also points out the number of males on the Live Register was up 74% on last year - a sign of the slowing construction sector.
ISME's head of research Jim Curran said that the latest figures, together with the dramatic fall in taxation revenue, confirm that the economy is in 'dire straits'.
'Unless immediate action is taken on a number of fronts to address the situation the number of job losses announced to date will accelerate, putting further pressure on the already weakened public finances,' he warns.
The initiatives that need to be immediately introduced include suspending the terms of the national pay agreement and a freeze on all local charges on businesses for 2009.
