The number of persons aged 15-74 years who were unemployed increased by 17,600 (+14.2%) to 141,800 in the year to Q1 2026, using standard International Labour Organisation (ILO) criteria.
Unemployment increased by 5,700 (+8.7%) for males to 71,300 in the year to Q1 2026 – this compares with a rise of 11,900 (+20.3%) to 70,400 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 10.2% in Q1 2026 up from 9.5% in Q1 2025. The total number of unemployed people in this age group was 34,300 people an increase of 1,200 (+3.7%) from Q1 2025.
The unemployment rate for those aged 25-74 years was 4.2% in Q1 2026, up from 3.6% 12 months earlier. The total number of persons unemployed in this age group was 107,500 an increase of 16,400 people (+18.0%) from Q1 2025. See Table QLF18.
70.2%1 of unemployed persons in Q1 2026 were in short-term unemployment (less than one year). Over the year to Q1 2026, short-term unemployment rose by 3,300 (+3.5%) to 97,300, while there was an increase of 15,500 (+59.8%) in the numbers of long-term unemployed to 41,300.
The long-term unemployment rate increased from 0.9% in Q1 2025 to 1.4% in Q1 2026. 29.8%1 of unemployed persons were in long-term unemployment in Q1 2026 which is up from 21.6% a year earlier.
1excluding ‘Not stated’
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the numbers unemployed in Q1 2026 stood at 146,700, an increase of 9,100 (6.6%).
The seasonally adjusted number of unemployed males increased by 1,000 (+1.3%) to 74,600 over the quarter to Q1 2026, while the corresponding number for females was up 8,100 (+12.7%) to 72,100 over the same period. See Table QLF06.
See Monthly Unemployment outputs for supplementary analysis of seasonally adjusted unemployment.
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