Unemployment decreased by 15.6 per cent last year, reducing the number of jobless people to 213,600 at year end.

This is the tenth quarter in succession where unemployment has declined on an annual basis.

The Quarterly National Household Survey, published by the Central Statistics Office, shows the seasonally adjusted jobless rate decreased from 11.1 per cent to 10.4 per cent during the fourth quarter of 2014.

The long-term unemployment rate decreased from 7.2 per cent to 5.7 per cent over the year to Q4 2014. Long-term unemployment accounted for 57.8 per cent per cent of total unemployment in the fourth quarter of last year, down from 61.4 per cent a year earlier and 59.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Meanwhile, the number of people in employment increased by 1.5 per cent to 1.9 million in the fourth quarter.

The figures show employment increased by 9,700 (+0.5 per cent) over the previous quarter, on a seasonally adjusted basis.

This follows on from a seasonally adjusted increase in employment of 11,000 (+0.6 per cent) in Q3 2014.

As a result, employment in 2014 is up by almost 30,000. Employment rose in eleven of the fourteen economic sectors on an annual basis and fell in the other three in the fourth quarter. The greatest rates of increase were posted in the construction (+12.6 per cent) and the financial, insurance and real estate activities (+4.9 per cent) sectors.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said the figures represent a cumulative increase of 95,000 jobs since the low- point of the crisis recorded in the third quarter of 2012.

He said the figures support the accuracy of Budget day estimates for the labour market, and confirm that the government’s strategy to reach full-employment of some 2.1 million by 2018 remains firmly on track.”