In October 2018, the unemployment rate was 5.5 percent for males, down from 6.9 percent in the same month last year, according to the latest seasonally adjusted CSO figures. 

The seasonally adjusted number of males unemployed was down from 88,800 to 71,800 from October 2017 to October 2018.

The largest increases in employment in the second quarter of 2018 took place in construction, the wholesale and retail trade, accommodation and food service activities, and professional, scientific and technical activities, according to the latest Labour Force Survey figures. 

In comparison, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the entire population of the United Kingdom in September 2018 was at 4.1 percent, according to figures released in November by the U.K.’s Office for National Statistics.

In August 2018, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Innovation announced the Future Jobs program, which will be introduced in 2019 to succeed the Action Plan for jobs and to maintain the momentum in employment growth. 

Earlier this year, the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys supported the continued efforts to tackle unemployment and believes the Government’s successful annual Action Plans for Jobs has played a key role in the continued improvement in the job figures.

The Action Plan for Jobs was created in 2012 – when unemployment was at its peak of 16 percent across everyone in the country. Since the first quarter of 2016, 174,200 jobs were created, with 65 percent of these coming outside of Dublin.