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The CSO released the latest Quarterly National Household Survey figures this week showing that the fourth quarter of 2015 showed continued employment growth. The QNHS, a large-scale, nationwide survey of households in Ireland, provides the official measure of employment and unemployment in Ireland.

Below we breakdown the main figures to know from the latest report.

Unemployment declines for 14 successive quarters on annual basis

The unemployment rate for Q4 2015 stands at 9.1%, a decrease of 26,100 people in the year. This is the 14^th consecutive quarter that the number of unemployed people has fallen, and is down from a peak of 15% in 2012.  The long term unemployment rate is also down from 5.8% to 4.7% over the year. Long term unemployed are classified as those unemployed for 12 months or more.

The monthly estimate for January 2016 has fallen further still to 8.9%.

2.3% increase in number of people in employment

Over 1.98 million people are now working in Ireland, an increase of 44,100 or 2.3% in the year to Q4 2015. This is the 13^th successive quarter showing an annual increase in employment.

The majority of the jobs created over thelast year – 38,900 jobs – were full-time positions. The number of self-employed people also increased by 1,000 over the year to 321,200.

Increase in employment in 12 of 14 sectors

12 of 14 sectors have seen an increase in employment, with the largest increase in the construction sector which grew by 8.5% (9,900). The other NACE activities sector also saw a large jump in employment, with an increase of 4,600 or 4.7%.

More information

Get the full results of the CSO QNHS figures for Q4 2015 here.

Find out about the government’s jobs programmes including the Action Plan for Jobs and Pathways to Work here.