Figures released from the CSO show over 21,000 people working in the industrial sector lost their jobs year-on-year to the end of June this year.
Read the report here.
This decrease was primarily among the production, craft and manual workers, which fell by 17,700, while clerical sales and service employees fell by 2,900 in the year.
Managers and professionals fell by 600.
Elsewhere, the figures show that average hourly earnings for the industrial sector rose 4.2% for the year ending in June.
However, earnings in the financial sector took a major hit, down 11.9% for the year, to the second quarter of this year.
The average hourly wage for the industrial sector is now €21.20, up from €20.35 in the second quarter of 2008.
The average hourly wage in the financial sector fell from €32.96 to €29.33.
Average weekly earnings for the financial sector fell 13% from €1,118.94 to €973.08.
In the industrial sector, the average weekly earnings rose slightly, from €782.63 to €787.96.
