The rate of unemployment across the economy has risen to 5.3 per cent, its highest level in four years, according to the latest Central Statistics Office (CSO) Labour Force Survey (LFS) published on Thursday.
The increase, which was driven by significant a rise in the rate of unemployment among 15 to 24 and 35 to 44 age groups, represents an increase of 0.8 per cent on the third quarter in 2024.
The LFS suggests the number of additional people in employment was 30,600 in the year to the third quarter of 2025, a jump of 1.1 per cent. The new total, which is put at 2,825,500, represents another record high for Ireland.
The survey puts the number of unemployed people aged 15-74 during the third of quarter at 155,400, up 25,900 in a year. While the total number of people in employment continues to rise, CSO statistician Colin Hanley said the rate at which employment is growing is decreasing while the rate at which unemployment is growing is increasing.
READ MORE
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the numbers unemployed in between July and September 2025 stood at 147,100, an increase of 12,500 or 9.3 per cent on the previous quarter.
The number of long term unemployed was also up, with 34,400 people unemployed for 12 months or longer in the third quarter of 2025, an increase of 7,400 on the same period in 2024.
The figures indicate that the total workforce continues to grow with an additional 56,500 in the past year, taking the total number to almost 3 million.
“Ireland’s labour market is softening,” said Andrew Webb, chief economist at Grant Thornton Ireland.
“Together, the Labour Force Survey indicators point to a labour market that is cooling while also struggling to draw people on the margins into work.
“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.”
There will be concern for the Government in some of the sectoral breakdown figures. While the number of people in Industry and Human Health have all increased, the number employed in the Information and Communication sector, which includes the big tech companies, has fallen by 8,000 in the space of a year to 180,600.
The figure for Hospitality is also down, from 200,000 to 191,300 and for Public Administration, 153,600 to 143,200.
“ICT employment fell by 4.4 per cent, including a particularly large fall in the employment of computer programmers, says Dermot O’Leary, chief economist at Goodbody. “It is too early to tell but AI automation may be playing some role here and is consistent with some commentary in the most recent PMI (Project Management Institute) surveys for Ireland.”
The survey suggests almost a million people work at least some of the time from home with 557,800 working from home more than half the time, down from a peak of 774,300 in the second quarter of 2021.
The number of those who sometimes (at least one hour in the reference period) worked from home in third quarter was 430,000, up from 400,500 a year ago.
