According to newly released data from the Central Statistics Office, the jobless rate increased to 4.7% in July from an upwardly revised 4.5% a month earlier, marking the highest percentage in 2.5 years, reports RTE.
The unemployment rate was also moved upward for the March through May data, which had previously shown it to be close to a record low of 4% in each month.
This indicates that although unemployment has increased from 4.1% in February to 5.0% over the past five months, it has not above 5% since January 2022.
According to today’s CSO data, there was a 16,200 rise in the seasonally adjusted number of jobless individuals in July of this year compared to the same month last year, reports RTE.
According to the CSO, the unemployment rate for males was 4.7% in July, which was higher than the 4.5% rate in July of the previous year and up from the corrected estimate of 4.5% in June.
In the meantime, the rate for women increased from 4.1% in July 2023 to 4.8%, up from the revised figure of 4.5% in June.
The monthly youth unemployment rate increased to 11.4% in July from a corrected estimate of 10.4% in June, according to today’s CSO numbers, reports RTE.
According to Jack Kennedy, senior economist at employment site Indeed, the economy is still experiencing strong economic momentum, which is supporting a high level of demand for hiring even with the increase in unemployment in July.
“This steady performance continues despite an ongoing softening of the labour market. Our latest data at Indeed shows job postings have continued to retreat from post-pandemic highs. As of July 26, job postings on Indeed, a real-time measure of labour market activity, were down 22% compared to a year ago, although they remain 15% above pre-pandemic levels recorded on February 1, 2020,” the economist said, reports RTE.
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