The number of persons aged 15-74 years who were unemployed increased by 12,100 (+10.4%) to 128,200 in the year to Q4 2025, using standard International Labour Organisation (ILO) criteria.
Unemployment increased by 4,100 (+6.3%) for males to 69,100 in the year to Q4 2025 – this compares with a rise of 8,000 (+15.7%) to 59,100 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 9.8% in Q4 2025 down from 9.9% in Q4 2024. The total number of unemployed people in this age group was 35,000, unchanged from Q4 2024.
The unemployment rate for those aged 25-74 years was 3.6% in Q4 2025, up from 3.2% 12 months earlier. The total number of persons unemployed in this age group was 93,200 an increase of 12,100 people (+14.9%) from Q4 2024 – See Table QLF18.
71.0%1 of unemployed persons in Q4 2025 were in short-term unemployment (less than one year). Over the year to Q4 2025, short-term unemployment rose by 4,200 (+5.0%) to 88,500, while there was an increase of 8,000 (+28.2%) in the numbers of long-term unemployed to 36,200.
The long-term unemployment rate increased from 1.0% in Q4 2024 to 1.2% in Q4 2025. 29.0%1 of unemployed persons were in long-term unemployment in Q4 2025 which is up from 25.0% a year earlier.
1excluding ‘Not stated’
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the numbers unemployed in Q4 2025 stood at 137,200, a fall of 8,200 (-5.6%).
The seasonally adjusted number of unemployed males decreased by 3,500 (-4.5%) to 73,700 over the quarter to Q4 2025, while the corresponding number for females was down 4,700 (-6.9%) to 63,500 over the same period. See Table QLF06.
See Monthly Unemployment outputs for supplementary analysis of seasonally adjusted unemployment.
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