The Social Protection Minister has welcomed new figures showing the number of unemployed men dropping below 100,000 for the first time since July 2008.
CSO data released today show that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for November was 7.3% - down from 7.5% in October 2016 and down from 9.1% last November.
The seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed was 160,700, the statistics show - breaking down to 99,600 men and 61,100 women.
In a statement, Minister Leo Varadkar said: “Men are still substantially more likely to be unemployed than women. It’s an unspoken issue that we need to do more about, given the impact that unemployment has on poverty, living standards, mental health, self-worth and self-esteem. It’s good to see that progress is being made and that we have met this milestone.
“This development follows a number of other breakthroughs in the last few months. Most recently the Government exceeded its target to move 20,000 people from long-term unemployment to work this year. We now have more than 2 million people at work, and the Live Register has fallen below 300,000."