New data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that Ireland’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.7% in January, following downward revisions to figures for previous months.
The CSO revised December’s unemployment rate to 4.7% from an earlier estimate of 5%, while similar adjustments were applied to October and November data.
Breaking down the figures by gender, the jobless rate for men in January was 4.8%, unchanged from December’s revised figure and up from 4.5% in January 2025. For women, the unemployment rate stood at 4.5%, also unchanged from the revised December rate and slightly higher than the 4.4% recorded a year earlier.
Youth unemployment showed a sharper increase, rising to 11.8% in January from a revised 11.4% in December.
The seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed in January was 138,400, compared with 137,800 in December 2025. Compared with the same month last year, there was an increase of 8,600 unemployed individuals, the CSO said.
Commenting on the data, Jack Kennedy, senior economist at hiring platform Indeed, said the revisions present a somewhat more positive picture of the Irish labour market than previously reported.
“The new figures show the unemployment rate reached 5% in July last year but then fell to 4.9% in August and has remained below 5% since,” Kennedy said. “It means the rate stayed under 5% for all but one month of 2025.”
He added that the revisions come amid continuing caution from firms regarding investment and hiring, as the overall pace of economic activity slows. “Expected employment growth of 2.1% in 2025 is projected to fall to 1.9% this year and 1.8% next year,” Kennedy noted.
Despite these concerns, Kennedy highlighted that real-time measures of labour demand remain stable. The Indeed Job Postings Index for Ireland, which tracks online job vacancies, was 9% higher as of 30 January than its pre-pandemic level on 1 February 2020 and has stayed around this mark since April 2025.
The figures suggest that while unemployment has remained steady, growth in hiring may be moderating as companies weigh economic uncertainties. Analysts will be watching whether job creation slows further in the coming months or stabilizes as the labour market adapts to broader economic conditions.
