New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the unemployment rate rose slightly to 4% in March from a record low of 3.9% a month earlier.
The jobless rate in February had matched the previous record low recorded between October 2000 and April 2001 in the early days of the ‘Celtic Tiger’ boom.
The CSO said the monthly unemployment rate in March for men stood at 3.9%, unchanged from the revised rate in February and down from the rate of 4.2% recorded in March of last year.
The monthly jobless rate for women was 4.1%, up from a revised rate of 4% in February and down from a rate of 4.3% in March 2024.
Meanwhile, the youth unemployment rate for March was 11.6%, unchanged from the revised rate the previous month.
Today’s figures show that the seasonally adjusted number of people who were unemployed stood at 114,800 in March, compared with 112,900 in February.
There was a fall of 5,600 in the seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed in March of this year compared to the same month last year.
Jack Kennedy, senior economist at hiring platform Indeed, said that at a time of increasing global uncertainty and potential threats to Ireland’s economic model, the country’s labour market continues to perform remarkably well.
“While Irish policymakers and economic observers will remain encouraged by the latest figures, it comes as the Irish Government has already warned that looming tariffs could potentially affect between 50,000 and 80,000 jobs that would otherwise have been maintained or created in Ireland,” Jack Kennedy said.
“Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Ireland, has lowered expectations for economic growth in modified domestic demand terms to 2.7% this year, down from 3.2% and 2.5% next year, down from a previously forecast 2.7%,” he said.
“At present, the Irish labour market is predicted to remain tight with further job growth expected in the near to medium-term, but the current outlook may change subject to global trade volatility,” he added.
Article Source – Unemployment edges up from record low to 4% in March – CSO – RTE