Building leads jobs rebound as employment in construction surges 80%
Employment in construction has surged 80% and in food service and hotels 43% since the depth of the crisis in early 2012, according to official figures which show there are now over 2.25m people working in the economy.
Construction and food service, along with retail, suffered the worst shakeouts during the banking and economic crisis when the unemployment rate soared to peak at 15.1% in the early months of 2012.
The rebound in employment is nonetheless impressive though workers in the three areas who lost their jobs 10 years ago are still more likely to be in long-term unemployment.
The CSO figures show that 377,00 more people, including employees and the self-employed, are in employment since spring 2012, to bring the number of people employed to around 2.25m.
Full-time employment is a closely watched indicator by economists to gauge the quality of the jobs.
It accounted for the vast bulk of the rise in employment.
Including employees and self-employed, construction now employs 145,700 people, up from 81,300 at the depth of the slump.
And other large increases include public administration where the number has grown since early 2012 by 19% to 105,600 people in employment.
Employment in food and accommodation services has swelled to 177,100 people from 123,700.
However, including employees and the self- employed, the number working in agriculture, forestry, and fishing has fallen to 106,500 from 113,200.
The CSO said that in its latest spring survey a share of over 28% cited not being able find a permanent job for not working in permanent employment, down from 53% at the depth of the crisis.
Full-time employment in the spring quarter this year accounted for almost 80% of employment, compared with almost 76% six years ago.
The CSO said the average usual hours worked a week in the spring quarter this year was 36.5 hours. Agriculture, forestry, and fishing worked the longest week, at 50.4 hours. Education worked the lowest at 30.1 hours a week.
