The jobless rate for people aged 15 to 65 rose to 5.3% in the third quarter of this year, up 0.8 percentage points from 4.5% at the same point in 2024.
This marks the highest level since the third quarter of 2021, when Ireland was emerging from the Covid period, reports RTE.
There were 155,400 people aged 15-74 classified as unemployed, which represents an increase of 25,900 compared to the same quarter a year earlier, according to the Central Statistics Office.
The employment rate among 15 to 65-year-olds stood at 74.7%, slightly lower than the 75.3% recorded at the same time last year, reports RTE.
However, employment among those aged 15 to 89 rose by 30,600, or 1.1%, bringing the total number working to 2.82 million.
The youth unemployment rate dropped to 47.5%, down from 50.9% during the same period in the previous year, reports RTE.
Today’s CSO release also shows that more than six out of ten workers — around 1.8 million people — reported that they never worked from home.
Almost one million said they worked remotely at least occasionally, while just over half a million reported usually working from home more than half the time, down almost a quarter of a million from early 2021, reports RTE.
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The CSO further noted that the estimated Labour Force — comprising all people aged 15-89 who were working or seeking work — reached 2,980,900 in the third quarter of this year, an increase of 1.9% on the same quarter in 2024.
The estimated participation rate in the labour market was 66.5%, a slight decline from 66.6% recorded in 2024, reports RTE.
Meanwhile, the total number of hours worked per week between July and September rose by 0.5 million hours (0.6%) to 86.5 million, compared with the same three-month period last year.
Andrew Webb, chief economist at Grant Thornton Ireland, said today’s CSO data indicates that the Irish labour market is starting to soften, reports RTE.
“Employment is still rising, but only modestly, and the unemployment rate has climbed to 5.3%, the highest it has been in four years,” he said,
“Beneath those headlines, the CSO’s figures provide another important signal. The number of people with a loose but real attachment to the labour market stands at 119,200. That group is smaller than a year ago, but significantly larger than in 2023, with sizeable shares held back by illness or disability, or caring responsibilities,” he said, reports RTE.
He said the Labour Force Survey indicators suggest a labour market that is cooling and still finding it difficult to bring people on the margins into employment.
“The challenge now is not simply job creation but activation to tackle participation barriers like a lack of affordable childcare or health-related barriers. Ireland’s fundamentals remain sound, but the labour market’s direction of travel is noteworthy,” he added.
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