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Monthly Unemployment March 2025

The Monthly Unemployment rate for March 2025 was 4.0%, up from 3.9% in February 2025

Online ISSN: 2009-8456

CSO statistical release, 02 April 2025, 11am

Key Findings

In March 2025, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.0%, which was up from a rate of 3.9% in February 2025. On an annual basis, the unemployment rate of 4.0% was down from a rate of 4.3% in March 2024.
Breaking down the results by sex, the monthly unemployment rate in March 2025 was 3.9% for males, unchanged from the revised rate in February 2025, and down from the rate of 4.2% recorded in March 2024.
The monthly unemployment rate in March 2025 was 4.1% for females, up from a revised rate of 4.0% in February 2025, and down from a rate of 4.3% in March 2024.
In terms of age, the monthly unemployment rate for people aged 15-24 years (Youth Unemployment Rate) was 11.6%, unchanged from the revised rate in February 2025.
The monthly unemployment rate for people aged 25-74 years was 2.9%, up from a rate of 2.8% in February 2025.

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (02 April 2025) published Monthly Unemployment Estimates results for March 2025.

Commenting on today’s release, Conor Delves, Statistician in the Labour Market Analysis Section, said: “The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for March 2025 (for all people aged 15-74 years) was 4.0%, an increase from 3.9% in February 2025, and down from 4.3% in March 2024. In March 2025, the unemployment rate for males was 3.9% and for females was 4.1%.

The seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed was 114,800 in March 2025, compared with 112,900 in February 2025. There was a fall of 5,600 in the seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed in March 2025 when compared with March 2024.

The seasonally adjusted number of unemployed males rose to 59,000 in March 2025, compared with 58,200 in February 2025. The seasonally adjusted number of unemployed females in March 2025 was 55,800, up from 54,700 in February 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 March 2025 have incorporated the LFS benchmarks up to Q4 2024 for the monthly estimates up to December 2024. The estimates for January, February and March 2025 have been forecasted. Forecasted figures are subject to revision.

Key Figures

Seasonally Adjusted Monthly Unemployment
	Number of persons unemployed	Unemployment rate (%)
March 2024	120,400	4.3
February 2025	112,900	3.9
March 2025	114,800	4.0
	Number	Percentage points
Change in month	1,900	0.1
Change in year	-5,600	-0.3

Open in Excel: Monthly Unemployment March 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	March	63,900	49,900	113,800	4.3	3.8	4.1
	April	61,600	51,400	112,900	4.2	3.9	4.1
	May	61,600	52,400	114,000	4.2	4.0	4.1
	June	64,800	54,500	119,200	4.4	4.1	4.3
	July	66,400	54,400	120,700	4.5	4.1	4.3
	August	67,700	55,200	122,900	4.6	4.2	4.4
	September	68,100	59,700	127,800	4.6	4.5	4.6
	October	65,100	61,500	126,600	4.4	4.6	4.5
	November	62,900	61,900	124,800	4.2	4.6	4.4
	December	63,400	62,000	125,400	4.3	4.6	4.4

2024	January	63,900	62,300	126,100	4.3	4.7	4.5
	February	60,000	58,300	118,300	4.0	4.4	4.2
	March	62,000	58,400	120,400	4.2	4.3	4.3
	April	65,200	58,900	124,100	4.4	4.4	4.4
	May	64,800	59,000	123,800	4.3	4.4	4.3
	June	64,800	59,500	124,300	4.3	4.4	4.3
	July	65,900	64,400	130,300	4.4	4.7	4.5
	August	60,800	58,500	119,300	4.0	4.3	4.1
	September	62,200	57,500	119,700	4.1	4.2	4.2
	October	65,400	55,700	121,100	4.3	4.1	4.2
	November	67,700	53,900	121,700	4.5	4.0	4.2
	December	73,900	54,600	128,500	4.8	4.0	4.4

2025	January	60,400	55,500	115,900	4.0	4.1	4.0
	February	58,200	54,700	112,900	3.9	4.0	3.9
	March	59,000	55,800	114,800	3.9	4.1	4.0

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	March	19,200	16,800	36,000	10.5	9.6	10.0
	April	18,100	17,000	35,100	10.0	9.6	9.8
	May	18,100	17,100	35,300	10.0	9.7	9.9
	June	19,100	18,200	37,300	10.6	10.3	10.5
	July	19,900	18,500	38,400	11.1	10.6	10.8
	August	20,700	19,100	39,800	11.5	11.1	11.3
	September	21,500	21,600	43,100	11.7	12.2	11.9
	October	20,100	21,400	41,500	10.8	11.9	11.3
	November	19,200	21,300	40,500	10.2	11.7	10.9
	December	19,600	20,900	40,500	10.3	11.5	10.9

2024	January	20,300	20,600	40,900	10.8	11.4	11.1
	February	19,000	18,100	37,100	10.2	10.2	10.2
	March	19,600	17,300	36,900	10.4	9.8	10.1
	April	20,200	16,600	36,800	10.6	9.6	10.1
	May	19,900	16,200	36,100	10.5	9.3	9.9
	June	19,700	16,400	36,100	10.3	9.4	9.9
	July	21,800	19,200	41,000	11.3	10.6	10.9
	August	19,800	17,900	37,700	10.4	10.0	10.2
	September	20,400	18,900	39,300	10.7	10.5	10.6
	October	21,100	18,700	39,800	11.1	10.9	11.0
	November	22,200	18,800	41,100	11.7	11.1	11.4
	December	25,700	19,800	45,500	13.3	11.7	12.6

2025	January	21,800	20,600	42,400	11.6	12.2	11.9
	February	21,000	20,100	41,000	11.2	11.9	11.6
	March	20,700	20,500	41,100	11.1	12.2	11.6

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

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

2025	January	38,600	34,900	73,500	2.9	2.9	2.9
	February	37,300	34,600	71,900	2.8	2.9	2.8
	March	38,400	35,300	73,700	2.9	2.9	2.9

Monthly Unemployment March 2025