Ireland is on course for a jobless recovery, according to a new international report.

Consultancy group Ernst & Young says Ireland will make the greatest recovery in the Euro zone for 2011 although it will not create any new jobs.

Their forecast sees Ireland jumping from 15th place in terms of GDP growth to second place in 2011 at 2.8 percent.

However, they also caution that the economy will contract by 1 per cent in 2010.

And they say Ireland will have to get used to an unemployment rate of 12.6 per cent until at least 2014.

Ernst and Young say Ireland has prevented a Greek disaster with the swingeing cuts and tax hikes.

But they are also concerned that Europe could also be heading into a "lost decade" similar to that suffered by Japan in the 1990s.

They say that the risk of major defaults may have passed but that the crisis still remains.