Employment increased by 2.3% last year, according to figures published by the Central Statistics Office.

The CSO figures today show there were more than 1.98 million people working in Ireland by the end of 2015.

However, the Quarterly National Household Survey shows a slowdown in the rate of increase in employment during the year.

There were 44,100 more people in employment last year, a rise of 2.3% on 2014, bringing total employment to 1,983,000.

Unemployment decreased by 26,100, 12.2%, in the year to Dec 31, 2015, bringing the total number of people who were unemployed to 187,500.

The figures also showed that total number of people in the labour force in the final three months of last year was 2,170,500.

This represents an increase of 18,000, 0.8%, over the year.