DUBLIN: Ireland's unemployment rate hit a post-crisis low of 11.5 percent in the second quarter, falling into line with the euro zone average for the first time since the country's international bailout.
The headline rate, which hit a high of 15.1 percent two years ago, fell for the ninth quarter in a row, dropping from 12 percent in the three months to June, driven by jobs in administration, hospitality and agriculture, the Central Statistics Office said.
Eurostat, which has not yet released equivalent quarterly statistics, said the euro zone unemployment rate at the end of June was 11.5 percent, down from 11.6 percent in April and May.
Ireland's economy grew by 2.7 percent in the first quarter and economists in June forecast full-year growth would be over 2 percent.
"We're seeing real job creation in an economy that seems to have found its footing again," said Alan McQuaid, chief economist at Merrion Stockbrokers, who estimated unemployment would fall to 11 percent by the end of the year, despite a weaker recovery in the public sector.
Higher employment should boost confidence and tax revenue, giving the government more leeway in the October budget when it is due to implement one last round of tax hikes and spending cuts, he said.
The number of people in work rose by 4,300 or 0.2 percent quarter-on-quarter, compared to a gain of 1,200 in the first quarter, the Central Statistics Office said.
The long-term unemployment rate fell to 6.8 percent from 8.1 percent a year earlier.
In another positive sign for the economy, net emigration - the gap between those leaving the country and those coming in - shrank by one-third to 21,400 in the year to April, the statistics office said.
The country, which has long and painful history of people leaving to seek a better life abroad, lost over 30,000 people to emigration in 2012 and 2013.
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