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The number of persons aged 15-74 years who were unemployed decreased by 1,600 (-1.3%) to 116,100 in the year to Q4 2024, using standard International Labour Organisation (ILO) criteria.
Unemployment increased by 4,900 (+8.2%) for males to 65,000 in the year to Q4 2024 – this compares with a fall of 6,500 (-11.3%) to 51,100 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 9.9% in Q4 2024 up from 9.4% in Q4 2023. The total number of unemployed people in this age group was 35,000, an increase of 1,200 (+3.6%) from Q4 2023.
The unemployment rate for those aged 25-74 years was 3.2% in Q4 2024, down from 3.4% 12 months earlier. The total number of persons unemployed in this age group was 81,100, a decrease of 2,800 people (-3.3%) from Q4 2023 - See Table QLF18.
74.9%* of unemployed persons in Q4 2024 were in short-term unemployment (less than one year). Over the year to Q4 2024, short-term unemployment rose by 2,900 (+3.5%) to 84,400, while there was a decrease of 1,300 (-4.5%) in the numbers of long-term unemployed to 28,200.
The long-term unemployment rate decreased from 1.1% in Q4 2023 to 1.0% in Q4 2024. 25.0%* of unemployed persons were in long-term unemployment in Q4 2024 which is down from 26.6%* a year earlier.
*excluding ‘Not stated’
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the numbers unemployed in Q4 2024 stood at 121,300, a fall of 2,400 (-1.9%).
The seasonally adjusted number of unemployed males increased by 600 (+1.0%) to 63,600 over the quarter to Q4 2024, while the corresponding number for females was down 3,000 (-4.9%) to 57,700 over the same period. See Table QLF06.
See Monthly Unemployment outputs for supplementary analysis of seasonally adjusted unemployment.
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