Revised numbers show unemployment rate has been at or above 5% since July

CSO has revised upwards its unemployment figures

The unemployment rate has been slowly edging upwards since September last year when it hit 4.1%.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has made a number of revisions to its monthly unemployment figures, which shows from July, the unemployment rate has been at or above 5%, the highest recorded since January 2022.

The CSO said during October, the unemployment rate stood at 5%, down from a revised rate of 5.1% in September, but up from the 4.2% recorded in October last year. When the CSO originally reported the September data, it said the unemployment rate was 4.7%.

The Monthly Unemployment rate for October 2025 was 5.0%, down from 5.1% in September 2025
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It has since made upward revisions to the July and August figures as well. The July rate was originally reported as 4.9%, and the August rate was originally reported as 4.7% — both of which have since been revised to 5% each.

The unemployment rate has been slowly edging upwards since September last year, when it hit 4.1%.

These revisions are routine changes for the CSO and have occurred a number of times this year. For example, in February, the originally reported unemployment rate was 3.9% — which would be considered full employment — but was subsequently revised upwards to 4.4%.

Chief economist at Deloitte Ireland Kate English said the unemployment rate “paints a mixed picture” and while it remains “relatively low at 5%”, what needs to be watched closely is that it “is slowly edging upwards”.

Ms English added labour market data was “an important indicator for the state of our economy”, in October “there may be a weakening emerging”.

According to the October data, the unemployment rate for those aged 15 to 24 — the demographic for youth unemployment — stands at 13.4%, a slight increase from the 13.3% in September.

“The rise in youth unemployment and the revision to youth unemployment last month also require further attention — in October, we saw the highest rate of youth unemployment since June 2021,” Ms English said.

“This is similar to trends we have seen across the world of rising youth unemployment.” 

The seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed was 147,400 in October, compared with 149,100 in September 2025. The number of men unemployed stood at 77,500 while the number of women unemployed was 69,600.

Chief economist at Grant Thornton Ireland Andrew Webb said the labour market “remains tight”, and employers across key sectors “continue to report difficulty finding the right skills”.

“The challenge now is matching people to the opportunities that are emerging, particularly as AI and automation change the mix of roles, and ensuring younger workers aren’t left behind."