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Monthly Unemployment December 2023

The Monthly Unemployment rate for December 2023 was 4.9%

Online ISSN: 2009-8456

CSO statistical release, 10 January 2024, 11am

Key Findings

In December 2023, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was:

Up to 5.1% for males from the revised rate of 5.0% in November 2023, and up from a revised rate of 4.3% in December 2022.
Unchanged at 4.6% for females in December 2023 from the November 2023 rate, and up from a rate of 4.5% in December 2022.
Up to 13.4% in December 2023 for persons aged 15-24 years (youth unemployment rate), from a revised rate of 13.0% in November 2023.
Unchanged at 3.5% for persons aged 25-74 years, from the November 2023 rate.

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (10 January 2024) issued Monthly Unemployment Estimates results for December 2023.

Commenting on today’s release, Conor Delves, Statistician in the Labour Market Analysis Section, said: “The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for December 2023 (for all persons aged 15-74 years) was 4.9%, up from 4.8% recorded in November 2023 and from 4.3% in December 2022. In December 2023, the unemployment rate for males was 5.1%, and for females it was 4.6%.

The seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed was 136,300 in December 2023, compared with 134,600 in November 2023. There was an increase of 19,200 in the seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed in December 2023 when compared with a year earlier.

The seasonally adjusted number of males unemployed rose to 75,000 in December 2023, compared with 73,700 in November 2023. The seasonally adjusted number of females unemployed increased by 500 people over the month to December 2023 from 60,800 to 61,300.”

Editor's Note

The methodology for the Monthly Unemployment Estimates involves forecasting the number of persons who are unemployed using the trend in the recipient Live Register series. The Department of Social Protection is providing Working Age Income supports to people arriving in Ireland from Ukraine under the Temporary Protection Directive. The Live Register series includes recipients of these supports who have met the relevant criteria. This has impacted on the numbers of unemployed, primarily females, in these monthly estimates.

Data in this release are subject to revision based on updates to the seasonally adjusted series whenever new monthly data are added. In addition, it should be noted that larger revisions can occur when the most recent Labour Force Survey (LFS) data are included in the calculation process.

The Monthly Unemployment Estimates published today for December 2023 have incorporated the LFS benchmarks up to Q3 2023 for the monthly estimates up to September 2023. The estimates for October, November and December 2023 have been forecasted. These forecasted figures are subject to revision.

Headline Table and Graph

Seasonally Adjusted Monthly Unemployment
	Number of persons unemployed	Unemployment rate (%)
December 2022	117,100	4.3
November 2023	134,600	4.8
December 2023	136,300	4.9
	Number	Percentage points
Change in month	1,700	0.1
Change in year	19,200	0.6

Open in Excel: Monthly Unemployment December 2023 Headline Table (XLS 10KB)

Tables

Table 1a Seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment by sex - all persons aged 15-74 years

Table 1b Seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment by sex - persons aged 15-24 years

Table 1c Seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment by sex - persons aged 25-74 years

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Table 1a Seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment by sex - All persons aged 15-74 years
		Number of persons			Unemployment rate (%)
		Males	Females	All Persons	Males	Females	All Persons
2021	December	70,300	62,200	132,500	5.1	5.0	5.0

2022	January	67,300	61,700	129,100	4.9	5.0	4.9
	February	63,500	58,600	122,000	4.6	4.7	4.6
	March	68,400	62,600	131,100	4.9	5.0	5.0
	April	63,600	56,800	120,400	4.5	4.6	4.5
	May	59,400	51,800	111,200	4.2	4.2	4.2
	June	58,900	53,400	112,300	4.2	4.3	4.2
	July	59,800	54,000	113,800	4.2	4.4	4.3
	August	58,900	57,200	116,100	4.2	4.6	4.4
	September	58,900	56,300	115,200	4.2	4.6	4.4
	October	60,100	59,600	119,700	4.2	4.8	4.5
	November	61,200	60,000	121,300	4.3	4.8	4.5
	December	60,700	56,400	117,100	4.3	4.5	4.3

2023	January	61,200	52,700	113,900	4.3	4.1	4.2
	February	60,800	50,100	110,900	4.2	3.9	4.1
	March	61,100	49,900	111,100	4.2	3.9	4.1
	April	62,200	50,700	112,900	4.3	3.9	4.1
	May	63,100	51,000	114,100	4.4	3.9	4.2
	June	67,400	53,400	120,800	4.7	4.1	4.4
	July	67,200	54,100	121,300	4.6	4.1	4.4
	August	68,000	55,100	123,200	4.7	4.2	4.5
	September	71,300	59,500	130,800	4.9	4.6	4.7
	October	73,200	59,900	133,100	5.0	4.6	4.8
	November	73,700	60,800	134,600	5.0	4.6	4.8
	December	75,000	61,300	136,300	5.1	4.6	4.9

Table 1b Seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment by sex - persons aged 15-24 years
		Number of persons			Unemployment rate (%)
		Males	Females	All Persons	Males	Females	All Persons
2021	December	19,300	19,700	39,100	11.1	11.3	11.2

2022	January	14,800	17,700	32,500	8.5	10.3	9.4
	February	13,100	15,100	28,200	7.5	8.9	8.2
	March	15,100	14,600	29,800	8.5	8.5	8.5
	April	17,800	14,500	32,300	9.9	8.3	9.1
	May	18,500	14,200	32,700	10.3	8.2	9.3
	June	19,900	16,400	36,300	11.1	9.6	10.4
	July	20,200	17,800	38,000	11.3	10.8	11.1
	August	19,300	19,000	38,300	11.0	11.8	11.3
	September	19,100	19,000	38,100	11.0	11.8	11.4
	October	18,700	18,500	37,300	10.6	11.3	10.9
	November	18,900	18,000	36,900	10.7	10.8	10.7
	December	17,900	16,500	34,500	10.1	9.8	10.0

2023	January	17,700	16,700	34,400	9.9	9.8	9.8
	February	18,200	16,300	34,400	10.1	9.4	9.8
	March	18,800	16,400	35,200	10.4	9.4	9.9
	April	19,300	16,800	36,000	10.6	9.6	10.1
	May	18,900	16,800	35,700	10.4	9.5	10.0
	June	20,500	18,000	38,600	11.3	10.1	10.7
	July	20,400	18,300	38,800	11.2	10.3	10.8
	August	21,300	19,600	40,900	11.6	10.9	11.2
	September	23,200	23,600	46,900	12.3	12.9	12.6
	October	23,900	24,500	48,300	12.5	13.1	12.8
	November	24,500	25,500	49,900	12.7	13.3	13.0
	December	25,800	26,400	52,300	13.2	13.6	13.4

Table 1c Seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment by sex - persons aged 25-74 years
		Number of persons			Unemployment rate (%)
		Males	Females	All Persons	Males	Females	All Persons
2021	December	51,000	42,500	93,500	4.2	4.0	4.1

2022	January	52,600	44,000	96,600	4.3	4.1	4.2
	February	50,400	43,400	93,800	4.2	4.1	4.1
	March	53,300	48,000	101,300	4.4	4.5	4.4
	April	45,800	42,300	88,100	3.7	3.9	3.8
	May	40,900	37,600	78,500	3.3	3.5	3.4
	June	39,000	37,000	76,000	3.2	3.5	3.3
	July	39,500	36,200	75,800	3.2	3.4	3.3
	August	39,600	38,300	77,900	3.2	3.6	3.4
	September	39,800	37,200	77,000	3.2	3.5	3.3
	October	41,300	41,100	82,400	3.3	3.8	3.5
	November	42,300	42,000	84,300	3.4	3.8	3.6
	December	42,800	39,800	82,600	3.4	3.6	3.5

2023	January	43,500	36,000	79,500	3.5	3.3	3.4
	February	42,600	33,900	76,500	3.4	3.1	3.2
	March	42,300	33,600	75,800	3.4	3.0	3.2
	April	43,000	33,900	76,800	3.4	3.0	3.2
	May	44,100	34,200	78,300	3.5	3.0	3.3
	June	46,900	35,400	82,300	3.7	3.1	3.4
	July	46,700	35,800	82,500	3.7	3.2	3.4
	August	46,700	35,600	82,300	3.7	3.2	3.4
	September	48,100	35,900	84,000	3.8	3.2	3.5
	October	49,400	35,400	84,800	3.9	3.1	3.5
	November	49,200	35,400	84,600	3.9	3.1	3.5
	December	49,200	34,800	84,100	3.8	3.1	3.5

Monthly Unemployment December 2023