Date Published: Wed, 03 Jun 2015

Summary of headline results  

• The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for May 2015 was 9.8%, unchanged from 9.8% in April 2015 and down from 11.7% in May 2014. 

• The seasonally adjusted number of persons unemployed was 209,700 in May 2015, a decrease of 300 when compared to April 2015 or a decrease of 40,500 when compared to May 2014.

Note to Editors

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has introduced a new series of monthly unemployment estimates in order to provide more detailed and timely Labour Market statistics. The release will hereafter be published on a monthly basis and will include any revisions to the series. The new release contains a series of both monthly unemployment rates and monthly unemployment volumes and adheres to international practice.

These new estimates are primarily based on the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS). For months where the quarterly unemployment data is not yet available, the Live Register will be used to produce a monthly QNHS estimate. Revised figures will therefore also be produced upon the publication of each new set of benchmark figures from the QNHS and these revisions will be included in the QNHS release.
The new estimates replace the seasonally adjusted Standardised Unemployment Rate (SUR) as the definitive measure of monthly unemployment. As a result the CSO will no longer produce the SUR estimate which was previously published with the Live Register.

– ENDS –