A draft budget report circulated in Laois County Council shows that the unemployment rate in the Midlands remains higher than the national average.
Roughly 4,200 people remain on the live register in Laois.
However unemployment rates in the county have fallen from last year. Census figures for the end of 2017 stated that the numbers unemployed for that period in Laois was 6,068.
This gave an unemployment rate of 15.3 percent, compared with 21.4 percent in April 2011.
Employment in the Midlands was recently impacted by the announcement that Bord na Móna plans to decarbonise the company.
As part of its decarbonisation plan, Bord na Mona has announced that it will cease using peat for energy by 2028 which is two years earlier than previously discussed.
Things are improving on a national scale. The Department of Fiance recorded a forecasted national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 7.5 percent this year.
This is aligned with the continued growth in consumer spending of 3.5 percent in 2018 and positive figures in exports at seven percent.
The department of Finance also predicts growth of a further 4.2 percent in GDP in 2019.
The national unemployment rate for October 2018 was 5.3 percent, down 0.1 percent from the rate of 5.4 percent in September 2018 and down from 6.6 percent in October 2017.
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