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Monthly Unemployment December 2023

The Monthly Unemployment rate for December 2023 was 4.9%

Online ISSN: 2009-8456
CSO statistical publication, , 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 2022117,1004.3
November 2023134,6004.8
December 2023136,300 4.9
 Number Percentage points
Change in month1,7000.1
Change in year19,200 0.6
Figure 1: Seasonally Adjusted Monthly Unemployment Rate (ILO), December 2020 to December 2023

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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