Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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189. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will comment on the Government's efforts to reach full employment in the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25096/22]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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190. To ask the Minister for Finance when he expects that Ireland will reach full employment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25203/22]

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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191. To ask the Minister for Finance his views on the progress that has been made by Ireland at achieving full employment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24913/22]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 188, 189, 190 and 191 together.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a severe impact on Ireland’s labour market, with the number of persons in receipt of some form of state income assistance exceeding half a million as recently as the first quarter of last year. However, as a result of the strength of the policy supports introduced by the Government to protect incomes, jobs and firms, the labour market has been at the forefront of a remarkable recovery in Ireland’s economy following the pandemic.

The number of people at work has increased to a new record, with more than 2½ million people in employment in the first quarter of this year, with an associated headline unemployment rate of 5 per cent in the same period. This has resulted in the level of employment increasing by 160,000 since the first quarter in 2020 as the pandemic reached our shores. Encouragingly this is the result of much stronger labour force participation particularly among females, with more than 100,000 additional women in the workforce compared to the first quarter of 2020. The most recent labour market figures are a remarkable achievement that has occurred more rapidly than expected. Indeed the Government’s Economic Recovery Plan, published only last year, set an employment target of 2½ million by 2024. Clearly the ambitious policies set out in that Plan along with those introduced during the pandemic had a much more rapid impact than anticipated.

Looking at the latest data, the momentum in the labour market has continued into the second quarter, with the unemployment rate standing at 4.7 per cent in May, the lowest rate since 2006. The labour market appears to be at, or very close to, full employment. Of course challenges remain, with not all sectors back to pre-pandemic levels of employment, while shortages are emerging in many others. Government is very conscious of these issues and will seek to orientate labour market policies towards growing sectors and in-demand skills.

In sum, it is clear that the labour market has recovered strongly to date, and that the Government’s labour market policy response - effectively maintaining the employer-employee link to prevent labour market scarring - has paved the way in this respect. Of course I am very conscious that risks to the outlook remain heavily tilted to the downside, not least the continued international uncertainty and the potential for further fallout from the invasion of Ukraine, particularly as regards energy and other commodity prices. However as we face into this uncertain outlook we do so from a position of strength.