New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the unemployment rate stood at 4.3% in September, down from a revised rate of 4.5% the same month last year.
The CSO also said today that the unemployment rate for August was revised to 4.4% from 4.3%.
Today’s figures show that the monthly unemployment rate in September was 4.3% for men, down from a revised rate of 4.4% in August and from a rate of 4.6% in September of last year.
The monthly jobless rate for women in September fell to 4.3% from the revised rate of 4.4% in August and down from a revised rate of 4.5% in September 2023.
The CSO said the youth unemployment rate in September increased to 10.8% from a rate of 10.7% the previous month.
Today’s figures show that the seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed stood at 124,300 in September, down from 125,300 in August.
There was a fall of 3,100 in the seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed in September when compared with a year earlier, the CSO added.
Commenting on today’s figures, Jack Kennedy, senior economist at hiring platform Indeed, said that while there is much to be positive about, it is worth noting that the strength in hiring demand continues to vary across occupational categories with a continuing decline in professional categories.
Jack Kennedy said the five categories furthest above the pre-pandemic baseline are education and instruction, cleaning and sanitation, therapy, loading and stocking and retail.
The five weakest performing are hospitality and tourism, marketing, software development, civil engineering, IT operations and helpdesk, he added.
The economist also noted that job posting trends in Dublin remain depressed, which he said reflected the capital’s greater exposure to weakness in professional categories.
They were down 8% from pre-pandemic levels as of September 27, the weakest of the five largest counties. Job postings are above pre-pandemic levels in all other counties across Ireland.
He said that given that the overall employment rate remains low, it is not yet worrying that job postings in professional categories are weaker than in others, but if this trend continues or worsens significantly, it could have a knock-on effect on the overall market.
“Some of the categories involved have experienced well-documented issues such as staff reductions in the tech sector. Meanwhile, the issue of closures and difficult conditions in the hospitality sector have been well documented,” he added.
Article Source – Unemployment rate of 4.3% for September – CSO – RTE
