Official figures show that the economy is producing lots of jobs, but still struggles to deliver jobs in parts of the country outside Dublin, a leading analyst has said, Yahoo reported. Alan McQuaid, chief economist at Merrion Capital, said the Central Statistics Office’s Quarterly National Household Survey published Tuesday was “again very positive”, as 46,900 more people were in work in the first quarter this year than a year earlier. The CSO figures showed there are now over 1.97 million people at work, still short of the record of over 2.2 million set in 2007. The CSO also revised down its estimate for April’s unemployment rate to 7.9%. Employment rose in 12 of the 14 industries the CSO tracks. Long-term unemployment fell, but still accounts for just over 56% of all people out of work. The youth jobless rate–defined as 15-to-24 year-olds out of work–fell sharply, to under 17% from 21.5% a year earlier.
