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Monthly Unemployment December 2025

The Monthly Unemployment rate for December 2025 was 5.0%, unchanged from November 2025

Online ISSN: 2009-8456

CSO statistical release, 07 January 2026, 11am

Key Findings

In December 2025, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.0%, unchanged from the revised November 2025 rate. On an annual basis, the unemployment rate increased from 4.5% in December 2024 to 5.0% in December 2025.
Breaking down the results by sex, the monthly unemployment rate for males in December 2025 was 5.1%, up from the revised rate of 5.0% in November 2025, and up from 4.8% recorded in December 2024.
The monthly unemployment rate in December 2025 was 4.9% for females, down from 5.0% in November 2025, and up from 4.1% in December 2024.
In terms of age, the monthly unemployment rate for people aged 15-24 years (Youth Unemployment Rate) was 14.0%, up from a revised rate of 13.7% in November 2025.
The monthly unemployment rate for people aged 25-74 years was 3.8%, unchanged from the November 2025 revised rate.

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (07 January 2026) published Monthly Unemployment Estimates results for December 2025.

Commenting on today’s release, Conor Delves, Statistician in the Labour Market Analysis Section, said: “The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for all people aged 15-74 years in December 2025 was 5.0%, unchanged from November 2025, and up from 4.5% in December 2024. In December 2025, the unemployment rate for males was 5.1% and for females was 4.9%.

The seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed was 148,700 in December 2025, compared with 147,300 in November 2025. There was an increase of 19,700 in the seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed in December 2025 when compared with December 2024.

The seasonally adjusted number of unemployed males increased to 79,600 in December 2025, compared with 77,700 in November 2025. The seasonally adjusted number of unemployed females in December 2025 was 69,100, down from 69,600 in November 2025.”

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.

From 9 September 2024 beneficiaries of EU’s Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) living in Designated Accommodation Centres no longer qualify for Jobseeker’s Allowance and thus are no longer enumerated on the Live Register – see Background Notes.

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 2025 have incorporated the LFS benchmarks up to Q3 2025 for the monthly estimates up to September 2025. The estimates for October, November and December 2025 have been forecasted. Forecasted figures are subject to revision.

Key Figures

Seasonally Adjusted Monthly Unemployment
	Number of persons unemployed	Unemployment rate (%)
December 2024	129,000	4.5
November 2025	147,300	5.0
December 2025	148,700	5.0
	Number	Percentage points
Change in month	1,400	0.0
Change in year	19,700	0.5

Open in Excel: Monthly Unemployment December 2025 Headline Table (XLS 10KB)

Tables

Table 1a Seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment by sex - 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 - persons aged 15-74 years
		Number of persons			Unemployment rate (%)
		Males	Females	All Persons	Males	Females	All Persons
2023	December	63,600	61,600	125,200	4.3	4.6	4.4

2024	January	63,500	61,200	124,700	4.3	4.6	4.4
	February	59,600	56,400	115,900	4.0	4.2	4.1
	March	61,300	57,800	119,100	4.1	4.3	4.2
	April	64,800	59,400	124,200	4.3	4.4	4.4
	May	65,900	60,200	126,000	4.4	4.4	4.4
	June	65,700	60,800	126,500	4.4	4.5	4.4
	July	65,200	65,200	130,400	4.3	4.8	4.5
	August	60,200	58,900	119,100	4.0	4.3	4.1
	September	61,800	56,300	118,100	4.1	4.1	4.1
	October	67,000	54,100	121,100	4.4	4.0	4.2
	November	70,200	53,300	123,400	4.6	3.9	4.3
	December	73,000	56,000	129,000	4.8	4.1	4.5

2025	January	68,000	60,300	128,300	4.5	4.4	4.4
	February	66,100	61,500	127,500	4.3	4.4	4.4
	March	68,000	63,100	131,100	4.4	4.5	4.5
	April	72,000	62,000	134,000	4.7	4.5	4.6
	May	73,500	60,900	134,400	4.7	4.4	4.6
	June	75,000	60,900	135,900	4.8	4.4	4.6
	July	77,600	69,200	146,800	5.0	5.0	5.0
	August	77,400	68,500	146,000	5.0	4.9	5.0
	September	79,200	69,500	148,700	5.1	5.0	5.1
	October	78,300	70,000	148,300	5.1	5.0	5.0
	November	77,700	69,600	147,300	5.0	5.0	5.0
	December	79,600	69,100	148,700	5.1	4.9	5.0

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
2023	December	19,400	20,000	39,500	10.2	10.9	10.6

2024	January	20,500	19,700	40,300	10.9	10.9	10.9
	February	19,700	17,600	37,300	10.5	9.9	10.2
	March	20,300	17,000	37,300	10.8	9.7	10.3
	April	20,600	16,600	37,200	10.9	9.7	10.3
	May	20,400	16,600	37,000	10.8	9.6	10.2
	June	20,200	17,100	37,300	10.6	9.8	10.2
	July	20,700	20,000	40,700	10.8	11.0	10.9
	August	19,100	18,700	37,900	10.0	10.4	10.2
	September	19,700	18,500	38,200	10.3	10.3	10.3
	October	21,500	18,000	39,500	11.3	10.4	10.9
	November	23,600	18,000	41,600	12.3	10.5	11.5
	December	23,700	19,100	42,800	12.3	11.2	11.8

2025	January	19,900	20,600	40,500	10.5	11.8	11.2
	February	19,400	21,500	41,000	10.3	12.2	11.2
	March	20,200	21,700	41,900	10.6	12.2	11.4
	April	21,900	20,900	42,800	11.4	11.8	11.6
	May	22,000	19,800	41,800	11.4	11.3	11.3
	June	22,600	18,900	41,500	11.9	10.9	11.4
	July	23,800	21,600	45,300	12.6	12.5	12.5
	August	25,200	21,700	46,900	13.2	12.7	13.0
	September	26,400	22,500	48,900	13.6	12.9	13.3
	October	24,800	23,700	48,500	13.0	13.9	13.4
	November	24,800	24,500	49,400	13.1	14.4	13.7
	December	25,800	24,900	50,700	13.5	14.6	14.0

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
2023	December	44,200	41,600	85,800	3.4	3.6	3.5

2024	January	43,000	41,500	84,500	3.3	3.6	3.4
	February	39,800	38,700	78,600	3.1	3.4	3.2
	March	41,000	40,800	81,800	3.2	3.5	3.3
	April	44,200	42,800	87,000	3.4	3.6	3.5
	May	45,500	43,600	89,000	3.5	3.7	3.6
	June	45,500	43,700	89,300	3.5	3.7	3.6
	July	44,500	45,200	89,700	3.4	3.8	3.6
	August	41,100	40,100	81,200	3.1	3.4	3.2
	September	42,100	37,800	79,900	3.2	3.2	3.2
	October	45,600	36,100	81,600	3.4	3.0	3.2
	November	46,600	35,200	81,900	3.5	3.0	3.2
	December	49,300	36,900	86,200	3.7	3.1	3.4

2025	January	48,100	39,700	87,800	3.6	3.3	3.5
	February	46,600	39,900	86,600	3.5	3.3	3.4
	March	47,800	41,500	89,200	3.6	3.4	3.5
	April	50,100	41,100	91,200	3.7	3.4	3.6
	May	51,500	41,100	92,600	3.8	3.4	3.6
	June	52,300	42,000	94,300	3.8	3.5	3.7
	July	53,800	47,700	101,500	4.0	3.9	3.9
	August	52,300	46,900	99,100	3.9	3.8	3.9
	September	52,800	46,900	99,700	3.9	3.8	3.9
	October	53,400	46,300	99,700	3.9	3.8	3.9
	November	52,900	45,100	97,900	3.9	3.7	3.8
	December	53,800	44,200	98,000	4.0	3.6	3.8

Monthly Unemployment December 2025