According to data available on the IEFP website, the drop in the number was due to a drop in all groups of unemployed people, notably men (-19.0%), those enrolled for less than one year (-15.9%), those seeking new employment (-16.4%) and those with a primary school education (-20%).

According to the IEFP, unemployment affected 44,414 young people in December, or a year-on-year drop of 19.7% (10,920 young people) and 6.9% compared to November 2017 (3,285 fewer young people).

The number of long-term unemployed at the end of December was 192,996, down 16.7% from the same month of 2016 (38,559 fewer people) and 0.8% down on the previous month (1,463 fewer people).

Job placements by the IEFP in December totalled 5,263 across the whole country, or 8% more than in December of the previous year year, but 28.9% less than in November.