At the beginning, in 1988, the unemployment rate was very high, around 17%. After that, it started to fall and reached about 12% in 1990. Then the rate increased again in 1992 and became around 15%. From 1994, unemployment continued to go down and reached the lowest point in 2000, about 5%. After 2002, the figure started to grow slowly and by 2008 it became more than 12%.
For people leaving Ireland, the number was about 60,000 in 1988. This number decreased a lot in the next years. In 1992 it was nearly 50,000, and then it kept falling. In 2000, only around 20,000 people left the country. After this year, the number stayed almost the same for some time. However, from 2004 to 2008, the number increased again and reached more than 40,000 at the end.
In conclusion, both unemployment and people leaving Ireland fell until around 2000, and after that they both increased ag
ain.