The labour force stood at just over 2.5 million people (2,533,200) in the second quarter of this year, according to the latest Labour Force Survey from the the Central Statistics Office.
This was an increase of 274,000 or 12.1% on the same period in 2020. The CSO said the participation rate rose from 56.9% to 63.1%.
Today's figures show that the number of people in employment rose by 211,000 or 9.9% to 2,349,100 giving an employment rate of 68.6%.
This compares to 63.2% in the second quarter of last year. The numbers employed are also up 52,900 (2.3%) on the second quarter in 2019.