The unemployment rate - including those on Covid-related payments - fell to 7% in February, new Central Statistics Office figures revealed on Wednesday.
This was a slight decrease on the 7.8% jobless rate in January and a huge drop on the 27% of people unemployed and receiving coronavirus-related subsidies last year.
The CSO estimated a significant 180,745 people were listed as being out of work or in receipt of the Government’s pandemic unemployment payment (PUP) last month.
