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The number of persons aged 15-74 years who were unemployed increased by 9,000 (+7.8%) to 124,200 in the year to Q1 2025, using standard International Labour Organisation (ILO) criteria.
Unemployment increased by 6,300 (+10.6%) for males to 65,600 in the year to Q1 2025 – this compares with a rise of 2,700 (+4.8%) to 58,500 for females over the same period. See Tables QLF01 and QLF02.
The unemployment rate for those aged 15-24 years, known as the Youth Unemployment Rate, stood at 9.5% in Q1 2025 up from 8.8% in Q1 2024. The total number of unemployed people in this age group was 33,100, an increase of 2,600 (+8.5%) from Q1 2024.
The unemployment rate for those aged 25-74 years was 3.6% in Q1 2025, up from 3.5% 12 months earlier. The total number of persons unemployed in this age group was 91,100, an increase of 6,400 people (+7.6%) from Q1 2024 - See Table QLF18.
78.4%* of unemployed persons in Q1 2025 were in short-term unemployment (less than one year). Over the year to Q1 2025, short-term unemployment rose by 13,400 (+16.6%) to 94,100, while there was a decrease of 2,900 (-10.1%) in the numbers of long-term unemployed to 25,900.
*excluding ‘Not stated’
The long-term unemployment rate decreased from 1.0% in Q1 2024 to 0.9% in Q1 2025. 21.6%* of unemployed persons were in long-term unemployment in Q1 2025 which is down from 26.3%* a year earlier.
*excluding ‘Not stated’
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the numbers unemployed in Q1 2025 stood at 114,500, a fall of 9,200 (-7.4%).
The seasonally adjusted number of unemployed males decreased by 9,800 (-14.2%) to 59,200 over the quarter to Q1 2025, while the corresponding number for females was up 600 (+1.0%) to 55,300 over the same period. See Table QLF06.
See Monthly Unemployment outputs for supplementary analysis of seasonally adjusted unemployment.
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