There are over 2 million people in jobs in Ireland and employment now stands at its highest level since 2008, according to latest figures on Tuesday.

The figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said there was an annual increase in employment of 2.9 percent or 56,200 in the year to the second quarter of 2016.

This compares with an annual increase in employment of 2.4 percent in the previous quarter and an increase of 3 percent in the year to the second quarter of 2015.

This marks the 15th successive quarter showing an annual increase in employment, the CSO said.

"This growth remains broad-based, with 12 of the 14 sectors reported by the CSO showing annual growth," Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan said.

"Our ambition is to help create 200,000 new jobs by 2020, including 135,000 outside of Dublin," he said.

Meanwhile, Alan McQuaid, chief economist with the Dublin-headquartered Merrion Stockbrokers, said the latest labor market figures were again very positive and better than expected.

McQuaid said employment prospects look very good again in 2016 due to the strong economic recovery, with another net rise of around 48,000 jobs forecast.

"As regards unemployment, we are now based on the revised CSO figures looking for an average jobless rate this year of 8.3 percent as against 9.5 percent in 2015," the Irish economist said.

The unemployment rate was unchanged over the quarter at 8.4 percent, according to the CSO.

Source : XINHUA