More than 2m employed for first time since 2009

Furthermore, migration estimates showed that for the first time since 2009 more people are coming to live in the country than are leaving.

A jump of 56,200 workers with a job – up 3 per cent – over the year to June brings to 2,014,900 the total number of people in employment.

Irish employment reached a high of 2.16 million people immediately before the financial crisis hit in 2008.

“Having two million people now at work will also give a boost to the State as only a strong economy supporting people at work can pay for the services needed to create a fair society”.

Fine Gael’s Dublin Rathdown Senator Neale Richmond echoed these sentiments, saying the figures show the decrease in unemployment is not just down to emigration.

Commenting on the figures, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said: “We have now seen 15 consecutive quarters of employment growth”.

“This growth remains broad-based, with 12 of the 14 sectors reported by the CSO showing annual growth”.

He said: “The figures sharply contrast with previous recoveries where even when jobs were created, people who were long-term unemployed couldn’t get access to them”.

The Central Statistics Office’s latest population and migration estimates showed the number of emigrants from the country declined by almost six per cent to 76,200 from 80,900 in the year to April while the number of immigrants rose by 15 per cent from 69,300.

An additional 10,900 people were employed in construction in the second quarter of the year, an increase of 8.7 per cent, the CSO figures released on Tuesday showed.

Many of them had emigrated during the economic downturn following the 2008 financial crisis that virtually bankrupted the country, leading to an global bailout.