The construction industry slump has contributed to new figures that suggest the number of men unemployed in Ireland is now double the amount of women.

During the past year more than 27,700 building jobs have been wiped from the labour market, resulting in a virtual standstill in employment rates.

In the second quarter of 2008 approximately 2.1 million people were in jobs across Ireland, a 0.3% increase from the same period last year.

Pressure from the looming credit crunch left 115,000 people out of work at the end of May, according to the Central Statistics Office.

Figures from the Quarterly National Household Survey showed the unemployment rate had grew by 5% on the previous quarter.

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According to former Employment Minister Richard Bruton the significant downturn in unemployment has demonstrated the gaining pace of the country’s economic plunge.

Mr Bruton said: "These figures show the extremely rapid deterioration in the economy that has occurred since March with employment down 26,600 in one quarter.

"Full-time employment has declined consistently this year for the first time since the 1980s."

Men accounted for the entire dip in employment during the last quarter. Figures found 78,000 men were unemployed compared to 37,500 women.

Around 26,800 construction jobs were lost during the quarter.

The Construction Industry Federation’s Peter Stafford said the figures illustrated job losses across the labour intensive industries.

Mr Stafford called on the government to inject investment schemes into the sector, to demonstrate confidence.

"The construction industry needs to get the volume of its contracts back up from the private sector and the national development plan must continue to keep public projects going,

"Employment has fallen because people do not have confidence in the Irish economy. We need that confidence back," added Mr Stafford.

(PR/NS)