The number of persons aged 15-74 years who were unemployed increased by 10,100 (+7.2%) to 151,000 in the year to Q2 2026, using standard International Labour Organisation (ILO) criteria.
Unemployment decreased by 100 (-0.2%) for males to 78,000 in the year to Q2 2026 – this compares with a rise of 10,300 (+16.4%) to 73,000 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 2026 unchanged from Q2 2025. The total number of unemployed people in this age group was 48,800 people a decrease of 700 (-1.4%) from Q2 2025.
The unemployment rate for those aged 25-74 years was 3.9% in Q2 2026, up from 3.6% 12 months earlier. The total number of persons unemployed in this age group was 102,100 an increase of 10,800 people (+11.8%) from Q2 2025. See Table QLF18.
73.3%1 of unemployed persons in Q2 2026 were in short-term unemployment (less than one year). Over the year to Q2 2026, short-term unemployment rose by 2,100 (+2.0%) to 107,200, while there was an increase of 7,200 (+22.6%) in the numbers of long-term unemployed to 38,900.
The long-term unemployment rate increased from 1.1% in Q2 2025 to 1.3% in Q2 2026. 26.6%1 of unemployed persons were in long-term unemployment in Q2 2026 which is up from 23.2% a year earlier.
1excluding ‘Not stated’
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the numbers unemployed in Q2 2026 stood at 146,200, a decrease of 1,600 (-1.1%).
The seasonally adjusted number of unemployed males decreased by 1,400 (-1.9%) to 73,800 over the quarter to Q2 2026, while the corresponding number for females was down 200 (-0.3%) to 72,300 over the same period. See Table QLF06.
See Monthly Unemployment outputs for supplementary analysis of seasonally adjusted unemployment.
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