Ireland falls back into recession

“Republic of Ireland falls back into recession. The country had to be bailed out after a property market crash” reports bbc.co.uk.

The Republic of Ireland fell back into recession in the last three months of 2011, official figures have shown.

Its economy shrank by 0.2% from October to December, following a contraction of 1.1% in the third quarter.

The data from the Central Statistics Office showed that the weakness in the global economy had hit Irish exports, while its domestic consumer spending had continued to recover.

The country needed an international bailout in 2010.

While consumer spending in Ireland rose by 0.5% in the fourth quarter of 2011, exports fell by 1.1%.

 Read More @ BBC News – Republic of Ireland falls back into recession.

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Employment In Ireland falls by 0.8% in year to Q4 2011

Source: An Phríomh-Oifig Staidrimh / Central Statistics Office

There was an annual decrease in employment of 0.8% or 15,400 in the year to the
fourth quarter of 2011, bringing total employment to 1,807,800. This compares
with an annual decrease in employment of 2.5% in the previous quarter and a
decrease of 3.4% in the year to Q4 2010. This annual decrease of 0.8% is the lowest
since the second quarter of 2008 when the number of persons in employment
decreased on an annual basis by 0.1%.

• The average employment level in 2011 was 38,100 or 2.1% lower than the level recorded in 2010. This follows a decrease of 80,700 or 4.2% between 2009 and 2010.
• On a seasonally adjusted basis, employment grew by 10,000 (+0.6%) in the quarter compared with a seasonally adjusted fall of 14,400 (-0.8%) in the previous quarter. This growth in the seasonally adjusted number of persons in employment is the first such increase since the fourth quarter of 2007.
•  Unemployment increased by 3,000 (+1.0%) in the year to Q4 2011. This brings the total number of persons unemployed to 302,000 with all of the annual increase in unemployment accounted for by females (+3,900 or +4.1%).
• The average number of persons unemployed in 2011 was 304,200, an increase of 12,500 (+4.3%) over the average number of persons unemployed in 2010 which was 291,700.
• The long-term unemployment rate increased from 7.3% to 8.6% over the year to Q4 2011. Long-term unemployment accounted for 60.3% of total unemployment in Q4 2011 compared with 51.5% a year earlier and 33.3% in the fourth quarter of 2009.
• The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged over the quarter at 14.6%.
• The total number of persons in the labour force in the fourth quarter of 2011 was 2,109,800, representing a decrease of 12,400 (-0.6%) over the year. This compares with an annual labour force decrease of 33,000 (-1.5%) in Q4 2010.

Source: Quarterly National Household Survey Quarter 4 201

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• Ireland slides back into recession (business.financialpost.com)
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