SINCE THE ACTION Plan for Jobs was established in 2012, an extra 126,000 people are now employed.

That’s according to figures provided by the Department of the Taoiseach which compare the number of people employed in the first quarter of 2012 and the second quarter of this year.

Fourteen sectors are included in the data, which shows an increase the number of people employed in each industry.

The largest increase was in agriculture, forestry and fishing which jumped from 82,300 to 111,700, an increase of 29,400.

Construction was second in line, jumping from 104,200 to 126,300 over the past three years, a difference of 22,100.

The smallest increase in employment was seen in public administration and defence and administrative and support service activities, both these sectors saw an increase of just 100.

The table below shows that 1,963,600 people over the age of 15 are currently employed, compared to 1,837,600 in the first quarter of 2012.

Here’s the breakdown:

#Open journalism No news is bad news Support The Journal Your contributions will help us continue to deliver the stories that are important to you Support us now

The Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) is the official source of estimates of employment in the State.