DUBLIN: Ireland’s unemployment rate in August was revised down to 6.1 percent from an initial estimate of 6.3 percent, the country’s statistics agency said on Friday, putting it on track for its lowest quarterly level since 2008. July’s unemployment rate was also revised down to 6.2 percent from 6.4 percent. Irish unemployment in the second quarter of 2017 was revised down to 6.2 percent from 6.4 percent, the lowest rate since the second quarter of 2008 according to previously published data.
“The seasonally adjusted number of persons unemployed was 136,700, the lowest since Q2 2008 when the comparable figure was 127,200,” said Jim Dalton, a statistician at Ireland’s Central Statistics Office. The number of people in work in the three months to June rose by 48,100 compared with a year earlier to 2.063 million, a 2.4 percent increase which compares with a 3.5 percent annual growth in the first three months of the year. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the number of people in work rose 0.2 percent compared with the first quarter.