According to the Irish Central Statistics Office (CSO) employment growth in the Construction Sector remains very strong, with an increase of 28,300 (plus11.2 percent) to 282,100 in the year to the first quarter of 2007.
The growth in the Construction Sector was dominated by males (+27,800) and accounted for 73 per cent of the overall annual increase in the number of males at work.
Both the Health and Education Sectors also showed strong growth over the year, increasing by 15,800 (up eight per cent) and 9,200 (up 6.9 per cent) respectively. Combined, the increase of 13,700 females at work in the Health Sector and the additional 7,900 females at work in the Education Sector accounted for almost 56 per cent of the overall annual increase in the number of women at work.
With the exception of Other Services, which showed a decline of 4,300, all Other Service Sectors showed increases to varying degrees over the year. There was an increase of almost 6,000 in the number employed in the Other Production Industries Sector while a small increase was also recorded in the numbers engaged in the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Sector.
All occupation categories showed an increase in employment in the year. The largest increases were in the Craft and Related (plus 20,100), Personal and Protective Services (plus 17,200) many of whom were in the Health and Childcare Sectors, Managers and administrators (plus 9,500) and Other (plus 8,600) Occupational Groups.