Ireland’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate stood at 5.8% in the first quarter of the year, down from 7.2% in the same period last year, according to data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The 5.8% figure matches the country’s record low in February 2008, before the global financial crisis.

Key findings from the CSO showed that in Q1 2018 unemployment decreased by 30,500 persons when compared to the previous year.

Meanwhile, total employment recorded an increase of 62,100 in Q1 2018 when compared to last year. The increase was represented by an increase in full-time employment of 72,000 (+4.3%) and a decrease in part-time employment of 9,900 (-2.1%) during the same period.

“The big picture is that the labour market recovery is far from complete, with rising participation and immigration set to be the drivers from here," Davy economist David McNamara told businessworld.ie. 

Irish business lobby IBEC said the biggest challenge facing the labour market will be finding workers to fill vacancies, with its members finding it increasingly difficult to attract and retain talent.

"The government needs to tackle pressing quality of life issues, especially housing supply and other infrastructural deficits. If these problems are not fixed, we risk undermining competitiveness and eroding the gains of the recovery in recent years," Ibec Economist Alison Wrynn told businessworld.ie.

Separately, the Irishworld today reported that online retail giant Amazon will be adding more than 1,000 new jobs in Ireland over the next two years taking its Irish workforce to more than 3,500. The new jobs, in Dublin, will include software engineers, security specialists and big data specialists at both Amazon and Amazon Web Services, its cloud storage division.