Irish boom drives unemployment to record low DUBLIN: Ireland's heady six-year boom pushed unemployment to a record low in March as dole queues shortened again in the European Union's (EU) fastest-growing economy. The number of people claiming benefit fell by a hefty 6,200 to a seasonally adjusted 163,900 in March, testimony to the job creation powers of an economy posting near-double-digit percentage annual growth, the Central Statistics Office said. That pulled the standardised unemployment rate down to a record 4.7 per cent after 4.9 per cent in February, with people aged 25 and above accounting for most of the fall. While Ireland is top of the EU's growth league, it has some way to go before it can claim the top spot in job creation. Eurostat data published this week showed unemployment was lower in Luxembourg at 2.2 per cent, the Netherlands at 2.7 per cent, and Austria at 3.5 per cent. The new job figures are likely to fuel the debate about whether Ireland's economic boom is spiralling out of control, with annual inflation now at 4.3 per cent -- more than double the eurozone average - and tax receipts soaring. Figures released this week showed tax receipts totalled 5.85 billion euros ($5.61 billion) at the end of March, up almost 17 per cent from a year earlier. Government coffers are bulging, despite tax cuts which kick in this month and plans to splash 40 billion Irish pounds ($48.71 billion) on a national development plan to improve a creaking infrastructure which has failed to cope with the boom. Prime Minister Bertie Ahern insisted Ireland was not heading from boom to bust. "Provided we maintain our discipline, we will have great pleasure in confounding the pundits in the city of London, Brussels and Frankfurt, who, blinkered by orthodoxy, still cannot quite understand how the Irish of all people have managed to get it right," Ahern told a business conference. "We are not blowing up a bubble here in Ireland which will burst in our faces," he added. Gross domestic product is forecast to rise by between eight and 10 per cent this year and the government's surplus, boosted by the sale of Telecom Eireann, now Eircom Plc, is approximately 1.3 billion euros currently. Ministers have pledged to salt away much of the surplus into a special fund to cope with future pension and welfare needs. While many economists say Ireland is close to full employment by generally-accepted economic standards, some are now openly arguing the country can buck economic theory and push joblessness even lower. Jobs are still being created at breakneck pace by multinational companies, despite infrastructural bottlenecks and some wages hotspots as employers fight for scarce labour, particularly in the building and services industries. Ireland, which wooed investors back with low corporate tax rates, is now campaigning feverishly to lure back back people who had gone overseas for career opportunities -- reversing a long tradition of emigration. The government last month announced measures to ease immigration restrictions in a bid to fix the labour shortage. Ministers estimate some 200,000 skilled workers are needed over the next seven years to keep Ireland's economic growth on track. The new visa scheme for non-EU nationals will initially target people in the information technology sector, nurses and construction industry professionals. (Reuters)
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