Unemployment grew by 33,500 (+50.9%) for males to 99,500 in the year to Q2 2021 compared with a rise of 29,500 (+53.5%) to 84,600 for females over the same period. The unemployment rate for males was 7.4% in Q2 2021 up from 5.4% a year earlier while the corresponding rates for females were 7.2% and 5.4% respectively. See Tables 9.1 and 9.7.

While the unemployment rate for persons aged 15-74 stood at 7.3% in Q2 2021 there were differences by age with a rate as low as 3.5% for those aged 65-74 years and as high as 32.6% for those aged 15-19 years. Those age groups also had the lowest and highest unemployment rates a year earlier but the rates then stood at 1.4% and 27.1% respectively. The unemployment rate for those aged 15-24 years is known as the Youth Unemployment Rate; it stood at 21.1% in Q2 2021 up from 17.9% in Q2 2020. See Table 9.8.

On an annual basis, unemployment increased in all of the eight NUTS 3 regions with the largest increase occurring in the Dublin region (+17,800) followed by the South-West region (+13,800). See Table 9.9.

Duration of Unemployment

Nearly seven in ten unemployed people in Q2 2021 were in short-term unemployment (less than one year). Over the year to Q2 2021, short-term unemployment rose by 34,100 (+37.4%) to 125,200 while there was a rise of 23,800 (92.8%) in the numbers of long-term unemployed to 49,500.

The long-term unemployment rate increased from 1.1% to 2.0% between Q2 2020 and Q2 2021. Just over a quarter (26.9%) of unemployed persons were in long-term unemployment in Q2 2021 which is up from 21.2% a year earlier. See Table 9.6.

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