Ireland's unemployment rate is now 3.1% higher than the EU average, with a further 100,000 jobs being lost in the last twelve months according to the latest Quarterly National Household Survey.
But the figures from the Central Statistics Office also show the rate of decline in the amount of people at work has eased slightly to 5.5% compared to an 8.1% decline the same time a year ago.
Unemployment now stands at 12%, comparable to figures last seen in 1995 while the amount of people at work compares to figures last seen in 1998. Across the EU, the average unemployment rate is 9.1%.
The CSO figures noted a 7.5% annual decrease in the number of men in employment, while the number of women fell by 3.1%.
The participation of foreign nationals in the workforce fell by almost 16% or 53,500 people in the past twelve months. Employment in the construction industry has fallen 50% since its peak in 2007.
Today's figures show that there were 194,900 men and 80,200 women unemployed in the first quarter of 2010, bringing the total number of unemployed up to 275,000, an increase of 52,200 or 23.4% in the year.
The number of unemployed men increased by 36,500 (23%), with female unemployment increasing by 15,700 (24.3%).
The number of long-term unemployed increased by 63,500, bringing total long-term unemployment to 112,600. The long-term unemployment rate now stands at 5.3% compared with 2.2% in the first quarter of 2009.
