Ireland’s unemployment rate was 4.1 per cent in April, down slightly on last month’s rate, according to latest Central Statistics Office (CSO) data.
The national seasonally adjusted figure shows a drop from the revised rate of 4.4 per cent in March and the 4.4 per cent rate in April of last year. A total of 119,500 people were unemployed last month, more than 8,000 fewer than last month.
“The seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed was 119,500 in April, 2025, compared with 127,900 in March, 2025,” noted Central Statistics Office (CSO) labour statistician Conor Delves. “There was a fall of 5,700 in the seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed in April 2025 when compared with April 2024.”
Overall, 4.0 per cent of men were unemployed in April, down slightly on the revised rate of 4.2 per cent in March of this year and a drop from the rate of 4.4 per cent recorded in April 2024.
The unemployment rate for women stood at 4.2 per cent, a reduction on the revised rate of 4.5 per cent last month. The current rate is below the 4.4 per cent rate in April 2024.
“The seasonally adjusted number of unemployed males fell to 61,500 in April 2025, compared with 65,000 in March 2025”, said Mr Delves, who noted the number of unemployed women had dropped to “57,900, down from 62,800 in March 2025.”
The youth unemployment rate, those aged 15-24 years, was 11.4 per cent, up from a revised rate of 10.5 per cent last month.
While the number of unemployed young people rose, the rate for the rest of the workforce, those aged 25-74 years, dropped to 3.0%, down from a revised rate of 3.5% in March.
Jack Kennedy, senior economist at jobs platform Indeed, said the latest figures show that despite the “increasing global uncertainty” there has been “no immediate change in the robustness of the Irish labour market”.
“While it is still too early to understand the full potential impact, the current unpredictability has affected markets globally and created a situation where businesses are likely to be reviewing or pausing growth plans until they can be more certain of their future outlook.”
While the employment rate was predicted to remain below 5 per cent in 2025, Mr Kennedy warned this prediction was made before the ongoing uncertainty was realised.
“Persistent uncertainty could accelerate the steady retreat in Irish job postings,” he said and noted the number of new jobs listings on the hiring platform had retreated year-on-year since 2022.
“At a time of near full employment, this situation has not been an issue or concern,” the economist said, “but further significant or less gradual declines could lead to a more uncertain period for the labour market.”
