Job creation in Irish businesses has been improved through a healthy export market, it has been claimed.

This is according to Enterprise Ireland, which has suggested the outlook for overseas trade is currently better than it has been in three years, with employment stabilizing during the past 12 months.

In its end-of-year statement, the body noted exports have recovered over the past year, with around 70 per cent of 2009's foreign sales lost recouped in 2010.

This has helped to support employment in the country and new export sales for this year are estimated to be in the region of €1 billion as a result of strong expansion in the field.

An estimated 8,193 jobs have been created during the past year in Enterprise Ireland firms and the organization pointed to strong growth in the food sector in particular.

Figures from the Central Statistics Office recently placed the unemployment rate in Ireland at 13.5 per cent in November 2010, a fall of 4,200 over the month.