February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Andrew Bushe
DUBLIN — The numbers on the dole fell by 11,320 in September, the biggest monthly fall on record, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office.
By the end of the month, there were 219,174 unemployed in the Republic, the lowest figure since October 1990.
When seasonally adjusted, the underlying trend was a fall of 5,100 in the month.
More than 30,000 people have now got jobs in the last year, bringing the unemployment rate down to 8.8 percent.
Numbers on the dole always show a dramatic drop in September as a result of schools reopening, which means that people like part-time teachers, bus drivers and pedestrian crossing staff sign off the dole.
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The dole queue cut has apparently been boosted this year by the success of the government’s job-creation programs and the large number foreign firms setting up plants in Ireland.
The figures show that more than 60 percent of those who came off the dole last month were women.