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Monthly Unemployment February 2023

The Monthly Unemployment rate for February 2023 was 4.3%

Online ISSN: 2009-8456

CSO statistical publication, 01 March 2023, 11am

Key Findings

In February 2023 the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was:

Down to 4.0% for males from a rate of 4.1% in January 2023, and from a revised rate of 4.5% in February 2022.
Unchanged at 4.7% for females from the January 2023 rate, and a decrease from the rate of 4.8% in February 2022.
At 10.2% for persons aged 15-24 years (youth unemployment rate), from a revised rate of 10.3% in January 2023.
Down to 3.4% for persons aged 25-74 years from a rate of 3.5% in January 2023.

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (01 March 2023) issued Monthly Unemployment Estimates results for February 2023.

Commenting on today’s release, John Mullane, Statistician in the Labour Market Analysis Section, said:

“The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for February 2023 (for all persons aged 15-74 years) was down to 4.3% from 4.4% in January 2023, and down from a revised rate of 4.6% in February 2022. The rate of 4.3% in February 2023 was lower than the pre-pandemic level of 4.8% recorded in February 2020. In February 2023 the unemployment rate for males was 4.0% and for females was 4.7%.

The seasonally adjusted number of persons unemployed was 116,500 in February 2023, compared with 118,100 in January 2023. There was a decrease of 5,700 in the seasonally adjusted number of persons unemployed in February 2023 when compared with a year earlier.

The seasonally adjusted number of males unemployed fell to 56,800 in February 2023, compared with 58,400 in January 2023. In February 2023 the seasonally adjusted number of females unemployed remained unchanged at 59,700, when compared with January 2023.”

Editor's Note

The methodology for the Monthly Unemployment Estimates involves forecasting the number of persons who are unemployed using the trend in the recipient Live Register series. The Department of Social Protection is providing Working Age Income supports to people arriving in Ireland from Ukraine under the Temporary Protection Directive. The Live Register series includes recipients of these supports who have met the relevant criteria. This has impacted on the numbers of unemployed, primarily females, in these monthly estimates.

Data in this release are subject to revision based on updates to the seasonally adjusted series whenever new monthly data are added. In addition, it should be noted that larger revisions can occur when the most recent Labour Force Survey (LFS) data are included in the calculation process.

The Monthly Unemployment Estimates published today for February 2023 have incorporated the LFS benchmarks up to Q4 2022 for the monthly estimates up to December 2022 while the estimates for January and February 2023 have been forecasted.

Headline Table and Graph

Seasonally Adjusted Monthly Unemployment
	Number of persons unemployed	Unemployment rate (%)
February 2022	122,200	4.6
January 2023	118,100	4.4
February 2023	116,500	4.3
	Number	Percentage points
Change in month	-1,600	-0.1
Change in year	-5,700	-0.3

Open in Excel: Monthly Unemployment February 2023 Headline Table (XLS 9KB)

Tables

1a Seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment by sex - all persons aged 15-74 years

1b Seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment by sex - persons aged 15-24 years

1c Seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment by sex - persons aged 25-74 years

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Table 1a Seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment by sex - All persons aged 15-74 years
		Number of persons			Unemployment rate (%)
		Males	Females	All Persons	Males	Females	All Persons
2021	February	91,900	83,200	175,200	7.1	7.5	7.3
	March	97,600	87,700	185,300	7.5	7.7	7.6
	April	101,800	86,500	188,300	7.7	7.5	7.6
	May	97,900	79,800	177,700	7.3	6.9	7.1
	June	90,800	73,200	163,900	6.7	6.2	6.5
	July	82,300	68,900	151,300	6.0	5.7	5.9
	August	76,000	66,500	142,500	5.5	5.5	5.5
	September	73,900	63,200	137,000	5.4	5.2	5.3
	October	73,100	64,100	137,200	5.3	5.2	5.2
	November	72,300	64,400	136,700	5.2	5.2	5.2
	December	69,900	62,300	132,100	5.0	5.0	5.0

2022	January	67,000	61,700	128,700	4.8	5.0	4.9
	February	63,100	59,100	122,200	4.5	4.8	4.6
	March	69,300	62,200	131,500	4.9	5.0	5.0
	April	64,900	56,800	121,700	4.6	4.5	4.6
	May	60,700	51,500	112,200	4.3	4.1	4.2
	June	58,900	53,300	112,300	4.2	4.3	4.2
	July	58,400	54,100	112,500	4.1	4.4	4.3
	August	58,400	57,400	115,700	4.1	4.7	4.4
	September	58,900	56,500	115,400	4.2	4.6	4.4
	October	60,400	58,200	118,600	4.3	4.7	4.5
	November	61,000	59,000	120,000	4.3	4.7	4.5
	December	59,700	58,800	118,600	4.2	4.7	4.4

2023	January	58,400	59,700	118,100	4.1	4.7	4.4
	February	56,800	59,700	116,500	4.0	4.7	4.3

Table 1b Seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment by sex - persons aged 15-24 years
		Number of persons			Unemployment rate (%)
		Males	Females	All Persons	Males	Females	All Persons
2021	February	21,000	26,900	47,900	15.1	20.3	17.6
	March	26,100	28,600	54,700	17.9	20.8	19.3
	April	31,700	29,900	61,700	20.5	21.1	20.8
	May	30,400	26,800	57,200	19.0	18.4	18.7
	June	27,300	23,100	50,300	16.4	15.1	15.8
	July	23,100	19,200	42,300	13.3	11.8	12.6
	August	19,900	17,500	37,400	11.3	10.4	10.8
	September	20,400	17,600	38,000	11.5	10.2	10.9
	October	21,500	20,000	41,500	12.2	11.5	11.8
	November	21,500	21,100	42,600	12.3	12.0	12.1
	December	18,800	19,400	38,200	10.8	11.1	10.9

2022	January	14,000	17,900	31,900	8.0	10.3	9.1
	February	12,800	15,600	28,400	7.3	9.0	8.1
	March	15,400	14,800	30,200	8.6	8.5	8.6
	April	18,600	14,500	33,200	10.3	8.3	9.3
	May	19,300	14,300	33,600	10.7	8.2	9.5
	June	20,000	16,300	36,300	11.2	9.6	10.4
	July	19,800	17,700	37,600	11.2	10.9	11.1
	August	19,200	18,900	38,100	11.0	11.9	11.4
	September	19,400	18,900	38,400	11.1	12.0	11.5
	October	18,300	18,000	36,300	10.4	11.0	10.7
	November	18,200	17,500	35,700	10.3	10.4	10.4
	December	18,200	17,000	35,100	10.3	9.9	10.1

2023	January	18,600	18,100	36,600	10.2	10.4	10.3
	February	19,000	17,600	36,600	10.3	10.1	10.2

Table 1c Seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment by sex - persons aged 25-74 years
		Number of persons			Unemployment rate (%)
		Males	Females	All Persons	Males	Females	All Persons
2021	February	70,900	56,300	127,200	6.2	5.7	6.0
	March	71,500	59,100	130,600	6.2	5.9	6.1
	April	70,100	56,500	126,700	6.0	5.6	5.8
	May	67,500	53,000	120,500	5.7	5.2	5.5
	June	63,500	50,100	113,600	5.3	4.9	5.1
	July	59,200	49,700	109,000	5.0	4.8	4.9
	August	56,000	49,100	105,100	4.7	4.7	4.7
	September	53,500	45,600	99,000	4.4	4.3	4.4
	October	51,600	44,100	95,700	4.3	4.2	4.2
	November	50,900	43,300	94,200	4.2	4.1	4.1
	December	51,100	42,900	94,000	4.2	4.0	4.1

2022	January	53,000	43,800	96,800	4.3	4.1	4.2
	February	50,300	43,500	93,700	4.1	4.1	4.1
	March	53,900	47,400	101,300	4.4	4.4	4.4
	April	46,300	42,200	88,500	3.8	3.9	3.9
	May	41,400	37,200	78,600	3.4	3.5	3.4
	June	38,900	37,000	75,900	3.2	3.5	3.3
	July	38,500	36,400	74,900	3.1	3.4	3.3
	August	39,200	38,400	77,600	3.2	3.6	3.4
	September	39,500	37,500	77,000	3.2	3.5	3.3
	October	42,100	40,200	82,300	3.4	3.7	3.5
	November	42,800	41,600	84,400	3.4	3.8	3.6
	December	41,600	41,900	83,500	3.3	3.8	3.6

2023	January	39,800	41,600	81,500	3.2	3.8	3.5
	February	37,800	42,100	79,900	3.0	3.8	3.4

Monthly Unemployment February 2023