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Monthly Unemployment February 2025

The Monthly Unemployment rate for February 2025 was 3.9%, down from 4.0% in January 2025

Online ISSN: 2009-8456

CSO statistical release, 05 March 2025, 11am

Key Findings

In February 2025, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 3.9%, which was down from a rate of 4.0% in January 2025. On an annual basis, the unemployment rate of 3.9% is down from a revised rate of 4.2% in February 2024.
Breaking down the results by sex, the Monthly Unemployment rate in February 2025 was 3.8% for males, down from the rate of 4.0% recorded in both January 2025 and February 2024.
The Monthly Unemployment rate in February 2025 was 3.9% for females, down from a revised rate of 4.0% in January 2025, and down from a rate of 4.3% in February 2024.
In terms of age, the Monthly Unemployment rate for people aged 15-24 years (youth unemployment rate) decreased to 11.3% from a revised rate of 11.8% in January 2025.
The Monthly Unemployment rate for people aged 25-74 years was 2.8%, which was down from 2.9% in January 2025.

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (05 March 2025) published Monthly Unemployment Estimates results for February 2025.

Commenting on today’s release, Conor Delves, Statistician in the Labour Market Analysis Section, said: “The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for February 2025 (for all people aged 15-74 years) was 3.9%, a decrease from 4.0% in January 2025, and down from 4.2% in February 2024. In February 2025, the unemployment rate for males was 3.8% and for females was 3.9%.

The seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed was 111,500 in February 2025, compared with 115,700 in January 2025. There was a fall of 5,600 in the seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed in February 2025 when compared with February 2024.

The seasonally adjusted number of unemployed males fell to 58,000 in February 2025, compared with 60,400 in January 2025. The seasonally adjusted number of unemployed females in February 2025 fell to 53,400 from 55,300 in January 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 February 2025 have incorporated the LFS benchmarks up to Q4 2024 for the monthly estimates up to December 2024. The estimates for January and February 2025 have been forecasted. Forecasted figures are subject to revision.

Key Figures

Seasonally Adjusted Monthly Unemployment
	Number of persons unemployed	Unemployment rate (%)
February 2024	117,100	4.2
January 2025	115,700	4.0
February 2025	111,500	3.9
	Number	Percentage points
Change in month	-4,200	-0.1
Change in year	-5,600	-0.3

Open in Excel: Monthly Unemployment February 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	February	65,200	50,500	115,700	4.4	3.9	4.2
	March	63,800	49,900	113,800	4.3	3.8	4.1
	April	61,500	51,800	113,400	4.2	3.9	4.1
	May	61,500	53,000	114,500	4.2	4.0	4.1
	June	64,600	54,800	119,400	4.4	4.1	4.3
	July	66,300	54,400	120,800	4.5	4.1	4.3
	August	67,800	55,000	122,800	4.6	4.2	4.4
	September	68,200	59,500	127,700	4.6	4.5	4.6
	October	65,200	61,400	126,600	4.4	4.6	4.5
	November	62,900	61,700	124,700	4.2	4.6	4.4
	December	63,400	61,700	125,100	4.3	4.6	4.4

2024	January	63,900	62,100	126,000	4.3	4.6	4.5
	February	59,900	57,200	117,100	4.0	4.3	4.2
	March	62,000	58,300	120,300	4.2	4.3	4.3
	April	65,200	59,700	124,900	4.4	4.4	4.4
	May	64,700	59,800	124,500	4.3	4.4	4.4
	June	64,600	60,000	124,600	4.3	4.4	4.3
	July	65,900	64,400	130,300	4.4	4.7	4.5
	August	60,900	58,300	119,200	4.0	4.3	4.1
	September	62,400	57,200	119,600	4.1	4.2	4.2
	October	65,500	55,600	121,100	4.3	4.1	4.2
	November	67,800	53,800	121,600	4.5	4.0	4.2
	December	73,900	54,300	128,200	4.8	4.0	4.4

2025	January	60,400	55,300	115,700	4.0	4.0	4.0
	February	58,000	53,400	111,500	3.8	3.9	3.9

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
2023	February	19,800	16,500	36,300	10.8	9.5	10.2
	March	19,200	16,700	35,900	10.4	9.5	10.0
	April	18,200	17,200	35,400	10.0	9.7	9.9
	May	18,200	17,400	35,500	10.1	9.8	9.9
	June	19,100	18,400	37,500	10.6	10.4	10.5
	July	19,900	18,500	38,400	11.1	10.6	10.9
	August	20,700	19,000	39,800	11.5	11.1	11.3
	September	21,500	21,500	43,100	11.7	12.1	11.9
	October	20,100	21,300	41,400	10.8	11.8	11.3
	November	19,100	21,200	40,300	10.2	11.6	10.9
	December	19,500	20,600	40,200	10.3	11.4	10.8

2024	January	20,200	20,600	40,800	10.7	11.4	11.0
	February	18,900	17,600	36,500	10.1	9.9	10.0
	March	19,500	17,300	36,800	10.4	9.8	10.1
	April	20,300	16,900	37,100	10.7	9.7	10.2
	May	20,000	16,500	36,500	10.5	9.5	10.0
	June	19,700	16,600	36,400	10.4	9.5	9.9
	July	21,800	19,300	41,100	11.3	10.6	10.9
	August	19,800	17,800	37,600	10.4	9.9	10.1
	September	20,500	18,800	39,200	10.7	10.4	10.6
	October	21,100	18,600	39,700	11.1	10.8	11.0
	November	22,200	18,700	40,900	11.7	11.1	11.4
	December	25,600	19,500	45,200	13.3	11.6	12.5

2025	January	21,700	20,600	42,300	11.5	12.2	11.8
	February	20,800	19,400	40,200	11.1	11.6	11.3

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	February	45,300	34,000	79,300	3.5	3.0	3.3
	March	44,700	33,200	77,900	3.5	2.9	3.2
	April	43,400	34,700	78,000	3.4	3.0	3.2
	May	43,300	35,600	78,900	3.4	3.1	3.3
	June	45,500	36,400	81,900	3.6	3.2	3.4
	July	46,400	35,900	82,300	3.6	3.1	3.4
	August	47,000	36,000	83,000	3.6	3.2	3.4
	September	46,700	38,000	84,700	3.6	3.3	3.5
	October	45,100	40,100	85,200	3.5	3.5	3.5
	November	43,800	40,600	84,300	3.4	3.5	3.4
	December	43,900	41,000	84,900	3.4	3.6	3.5

2024	January	43,600	41,500	85,100	3.4	3.6	3.5
	February	41,000	39,600	80,600	3.2	3.4	3.3
	March	42,500	41,000	83,500	3.3	3.5	3.4
	April	44,900	42,800	87,700	3.4	3.6	3.5
	May	44,700	43,300	88,000	3.4	3.7	3.5
	June	44,900	43,400	88,200	3.4	3.7	3.5
	July	44,100	45,200	89,200	3.3	3.8	3.6
	August	41,100	40,500	81,600	3.1	3.4	3.3
	September	41,900	38,500	80,400	3.2	3.2	3.2
	October	44,400	37,000	81,400	3.3	3.1	3.2
	November	45,500	35,100	80,700	3.4	2.9	3.2
	December	48,200	34,800	83,100	3.6	2.9	3.3

2025	January	38,700	34,800	73,400	2.9	2.9	2.9
	February	37,300	34,000	71,300	2.8	2.8	2.8

Monthly Unemployment February 2025