The number of persons aged 15-74 years who were unemployed increased by 9,600 (+7.3%) to 140,800 in the year to Q2 2025, using standard International Labour Organisation (ILO) criteria.
Unemployment increased by 8,300 (+11.9%) for males to 78,100 in the year to Q2 2025 – this compares with a rise of 1,300 (+2.1%) to 62,700 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 13.2% in Q2 2025 up from 12.0% in Q2 2024. The total number of unemployed people in this age group was 49,500, an increase of 5,100 (+11.4%) from Q2 2024.
The unemployment rate for those aged 25-74 years was 3.6% in Q2 2025, up from 3.5% 12 months earlier. The total number of persons unemployed in this age group was 91,300, an increase of 4,500 people (+5.2%) from Q2 2024 - See Table QLF18.
76.8%1 of unemployed persons in Q2 2025 were in short-term unemployment (less than one year). Over the year to Q2 2025, short-term unemployment rose by 5,700 (+5.7%) to 105,000, while there was an increase of 4,900 (+18.2%) in the numbers of long-term unemployed to 31,800.
The long-term unemployment rate increased from 0.9% in Q2 2024 to 1.1% in Q2 2025. 23.2%1 of unemployed persons were in long-term unemployment in Q2 2025 which is down from 21.3%1 a year earlier.
1excluding ‘Not stated’
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the numbers unemployed in Q2 2025 stood at 134,400, a rise of 3,400 (+2.6%).
The seasonally adjusted number of unemployed males increased by 4,900 (+7.1%) to 73,500 over the quarter to Q2 2025, while the corresponding number for females was down 1,500 (-2.5%) to 61,000 over the same period. See Table QLF06.
See Monthly Unemployment outputs for supplementary analysis of seasonally adjusted unemployment.
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