| Seasonally adjusted number of persons unemployed | Seasonally adjusted unemployment rate (%) | ||
| December 2016 | 173,600 | 7.5 | |
| November 2017 | 149,900 | 6.4 | |
| December 2017 | 146,700 | 6.2 | |
| Percentage Points | |||
| Change in month | - 3,200 | - 0.2 | |
| Change in year | - 26,900 | - 1.3 |
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for December 2017 was 6.2%, down from the revised rate of 6.4% in November 2017 and down from 7.5% in December 2016. The seasonally adjusted number of persons unemployed was 146,700 in December 2017, down from 149,900 when compared to the November 2017 figure and a decrease of 26,900 when compared to December 2016.
Summary points for December
| 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 | ||||
| 2015 | December | 131,700 | 82,900 | 214,600 | 10.6 | 8.0 | 9.4 | ||
| 2016 | January | 126,600 | 79,000 | 205,600 | 10.2 | 7.6 | 9.0 | ||
| February | 124,100 | 78,700 | 202,800 | 9.9 | 7.5 | 8.8 | |||
| March | 121,900 | 80,700 | 202,600 | 9.7 | 7.7 | 8.8 | |||
| April | 121,000 | 84,700 | 205,700 | 9.6 | 8.0 | 8.9 | |||
| May | 119,900 | 86,100 | 206,100 | 9.5 | 8.1 | 8.9 | |||
| June | 118,300 | 85,700 | 204,000 | 9.4 | 8.1 | 8.8 | |||
| July | 116,700 | 81,200 | 197,900 | 9.2 | 7.6 | 8.5 | |||
| August | 114,500 | 79,700 | 194,200 | 9.0 | 7.5 | 8.3 | |||
| September | 108,600 | 76,300 | 184,900 | 8.6 | 7.2 | 8.0 | |||
| October | 103,200 | 75,900 | 179,100 | 8.2 | 7.1 | 7.7 | |||
| November | 98,900 | 76,600 | 175,400 | 7.8 | 7.2 | 7.5 | |||
| December | 96,100 | 77,500 | 173,600 | 7.6 | 7.2 | 7.5 | |||
| 2017 | January | 93,800 | 77,600 | 171,500 | 7.4 | 7.2 | 7.3 | ||
| February | 92,800 | 76,200 | 169,000 | 7.4 | 7.1 | 7.2 | |||
| March | 92,100 | 71,800 | 163,900 | 7.3 | 6.7 | 7.0 | |||
| April | 92,300 | 64,500 | 156,800 | 7.3 | 6.1 | 6.7 | |||
| May | 91,900 | 62,600 | 154,500 | 7.3 | 5.9 | 6.7 | |||
| June | 90,800 | 62,800 | 153,600 | 7.2 | 5.9 | 6.6 | |||
| July | 90,100 | 67,000 | 157,100 | 7.1 | 6.3 | 6.7 | |||
| August | 89,000 | 67,000 | 156,000 | 7.0 | 6.2 | 6.7 | |||
| September | 88,100 | 68,000 | 156,100 | 6.9 | 6.3 | 6.7 | |||
| October | 87,000 | 66,600 | 153,600 | 6.8 | 6.2 | 6.5 | |||
| November | 85,300 | 64,500 | 149,900 | 6.7 | 6.0 | 6.4 | |||
| December | 84,200 | 62,400 | 146,700 | 6.6 | 5.8 | 6.2 | |||
| 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 | ||||
| 2015 | December | 33,300 | 18,200 | 51,500 | 22.7 | 14.5 | 18.9 | ||
| 2016 | January | 32,500 | 15,900 | 48,400 | 22.1 | 12.8 | 17.8 | ||
| February | 32,000 | 15,800 | 47,800 | 21.4 | 12.5 | 17.4 | |||
| March | 31,300 | 17,300 | 48,600 | 20.7 | 13.2 | 17.2 | |||
| April | 31,100 | 19,600 | 50,600 | 20.1 | 14.3 | 17.4 | |||
| May | 30,900 | 20,700 | 51,600 | 19.6 | 14.8 | 17.3 | |||
| June | 31,000 | 20,500 | 51,500 | 19.5 | 14.5 | 17.1 | |||
| July | 31,400 | 19,000 | 50,400 | 19.6 | 13.6 | 16.8 | |||
| August | 31,500 | 18,400 | 49,900 | 19.6 | 13.2 | 16.6 | |||
| September | 30,300 | 17,800 | 48,100 | 19.0 | 12.9 | 16.2 | |||
| October | 29,500 | 18,300 | 47,800 | 18.8 | 13.0 | 16.1 | |||
| November | 27,900 | 18,600 | 46,500 | 18.2 | 13.2 | 15.8 | |||
| December | 25,700 | 18,800 | 44,500 | 17.0 | 13.2 | 15.2 | |||
| 2017 | January | 22,600 | 17,900 | 40,500 | 15.4 | 12.7 | 14.1 | ||
| February | 21,500 | 17,400 | 38,900 | 14.8 | 12.5 | 13.7 | |||
| March | 23,000 | 17,000 | 39,900 | 15.8 | 12.3 | 14.1 | |||
| April | 25,300 | 16,300 | 41,600 | 17.2 | 12.0 | 14.7 | |||
| May | 26,200 | 16,400 | 42,600 | 17.8 | 12.3 | 15.2 | |||
| June | 25,300 | 16,800 | 42,000 | 17.9 | 12.9 | 15.5 | |||
| July | 23,300 | 17,600 | 40,800 | 17.3 | 13.9 | 15.7 | |||
| August | 22,000 | 17,700 | 39,800 | 16.6 | 14.4 | 15.5 | |||
| September | 21,400 | 17,600 | 39,000 | 15.8 | 14.4 | 15.2 | |||
| October | 20,700 | 16,700 | 37,400 | 15.5 | 13.8 | 14.7 | |||
| November | 19,900 | 15,600 | 35,500 | 15.0 | 12.9 | 14.0 | |||
| December | 19,500 | 14,900 | 34,400 | 14.8 | 12.4 | 13.7 | |||
| 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 | ||||
| 2015 | December | 98,400 | 64,600 | 163,100 | 8.9 | 7.1 | 8.1 | ||
| 2016 | January | 94,100 | 63,100 | 157,200 | 8.6 | 6.9 | 7.8 | ||
| February | 92,100 | 62,900 | 155,000 | 8.4 | 6.9 | 7.7 | |||
| March | 90,600 | 63,400 | 154,000 | 8.2 | 6.9 | 7.6 | |||
| April | 89,900 | 65,200 | 155,000 | 8.1 | 7.1 | 7.7 | |||
| May | 89,000 | 65,500 | 154,400 | 8.0 | 7.1 | 7.6 | |||
| June | 87,400 | 65,200 | 152,500 | 7.9 | 7.1 | 7.5 | |||
| July | 85,300 | 62,200 | 147,500 | 7.7 | 6.7 | 7.3 | |||
| August | 83,100 | 61,200 | 144,300 | 7.5 | 6.6 | 7.1 | |||
| September | 78,300 | 58,400 | 136,800 | 7.1 | 6.3 | 6.7 | |||
| October | 73,700 | 57,600 | 131,300 | 6.7 | 6.3 | 6.5 | |||
| November | 70,900 | 58,000 | 128,900 | 6.4 | 6.3 | 6.3 | |||
| December | 70,400 | 58,700 | 129,200 | 6.3 | 6.3 | 6.3 | |||
| 2017 | January | 71,200 | 59,700 | 130,900 | 6.4 | 6.4 | 6.4 | ||
| February | 71,300 | 58,700 | 130,000 | 6.4 | 6.3 | 6.3 | |||
| March | 69,200 | 54,800 | 124,000 | 6.2 | 5.9 | 6.1 | |||
| April | 67,000 | 48,200 | 115,200 | 6.0 | 5.2 | 5.6 | |||
| May | 65,800 | 46,200 | 111,900 | 5.9 | 5.0 | 5.5 | |||
| June | 65,600 | 46,100 | 111,600 | 5.8 | 4.9 | 5.4 | |||
| July | 66,800 | 49,500 | 116,300 | 5.9 | 5.2 | 5.6 | |||
| August | 67,000 | 49,300 | 116,300 | 5.9 | 5.2 | 5.6 | |||
| September | 66,700 | 50,400 | 117,100 | 5.9 | 5.3 | 5.6 | |||
| October | 66,300 | 49,900 | 116,200 | 5.8 | 5.2 | 5.5 | |||
| November | 65,400 | 49,000 | 114,400 | 5.7 | 5.1 | 5.5 | |||
| December | 64,800 | 47,500 | 112,300 | 5.6 | 5.0 | 5.3 | |||
Background Notes
Purpose
The purpose of this release is to provide a detailed series of monthly unemployment estimates. The release contains both monthly unemployment rates and monthly unemployment volumes. These outputs now replace the seasonally adjusted Standardised Unemployment Rate (SUR) as the definitive measure of monthly unemployment.
Calculation of Monthly Estimates
The CSO launched the new Labour Force Survey (LFS) with the publication of data for Q3 2017. To ensure that the historic Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) series is comparable with this new survey, adjustments have been made to this QNHS data from Q1 1998 to Q2 2017. The adjustments are based on a comparison of QNHS and LFS data from a parallel run undertaken at the beginning of 2017.
This adjusted QNHS data is then used to provide benchmark estimates of employment and unemployment for each quarter since the beginning of 1998 until the second quarter of 2017 while the new LFS is used to provide benchmarks from Q3 2017. These quarterly benchmark estimates are then used to compile monthly data using the Proportional Denton method. The main characteristic of this method is that the monthly Live Register series is used as an indicator to disaggregate the quarterly unemployment series into a monthly series in such a way as to minimise the differences between two consecutive months. It also ensures that the average of three months in a particular calendar quarter is equal to the corresponding quarterly estimate.
For months where the quarterly unemployment data is not yet available, the ratio of the LFS monthly estimate to the Live Register monthly estimate (i.e. the benchmark to indicator ratio) is forecast forward in order to extrapolate a monthly LFS estimate. The monthly series is revised each quarter when the latest quarterly data becomes available. This approach adheres to agreed international practice.
Benchmark LFS data for Q3 2017 which was not available at the time of publication of monthly estimates for November 2017 is also now available and has therefore been used to calculate the estimates in this release.
In addition, the benchmarks used in this December 2017 monthly unemployment release also take account of the new population estimates arising from the Census of Population 2016.
Additional information on the new LFS and the impact of the revisions arising from the Census of Population 2016 is available in an additional information note.
The adjustments have resulted in changes to the absolute volumes and rates previously published but the underlying trend is largely unchanged.
Comparison of new and previously published unemployment rates
The impact of the adjustments applied as a result of finalising the adjustments to the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) to take account of the new Labour Force Survey (LFS), the availability of final Q3 2017 benchmark data together with the impact of the Census revisions is illustrated below for all persons aged 15-74.
It can be noted that the previously published unemployment estimate for November 2017 has been revised by 0.3 percentage points from 6.1% to 6.4%, while the rate for December 2016 has been revised from 7.4% to 7.5%. The previously published estimate for the number of persons unemployed for November 2017 has also been revised from 138,100 to 146,700.
The full scale of these revisions for recent months is shown in the table below.
Previously published and revised monthly seasonally adjusted number of persons unemployed and unemployment rate (%) - all persons aged 15-74
|
|
Number of persons |
|
Unemployment rate (%) |
|||
|
|
Published - November 2017 |
Revised - December 2017 |
|
Published - November 2017 |
Revised - December 2017 |
|
|
2015 |
December |
207,300 |
214,600 |
|
9.4 |
9.4 |
|
|
||||||
|
2016 |
January |
197,600 |
205,600 |
|
9.0 |
9.0 |
|
|
February |
194,500 |
202,800 |
|
8.8 |
8.8 |
|
|
March |
194,400 |
202,600 |
|
8.8 |
8.8 |
|
|
April |
197,300 |
205,700 |
|
8.9 |
8.9 |
|
|
May |
197,800 |
206,100 |
|
8.8 |
8.9 |
|
|
June |
196,000 |
204,000 |
|
8.7 |
8.8 |
|
|
July |
191,100 |
197,900 |
|
8.5 |
8.5 |
|
|
August |
187,300 |
194,200 |
|
8.3 |
8.3 |
|
|
September |
177,700 |
184,900 |
|
7.9 |
8.0 |
|
|
October |
171,000 |
179,100 |
|
7.6 |
7.7 |
|
|
November |
167,100 |
175,400 |
|
7.5 |
7.5 |
|
|
December |
165,300 |
173,600 |
|
7.4 |
7.5 |
|
|
||||||
|
2017 |
January |
164,100 |
171,500 |
|
7.3 |
7.3 |
|
|
February |
162,400 |
169,000 |
|
7.2 |
7.2 |
|
|
March |
158,000 |
163,900 |
|
7.0 |
7.0 |
|
|
April |
150,900 |
156,800 |
|
6.7 |
6.7 |
|
|
May |
147,800 |
154,500 |
|
6.6 |
6.7 |
|
|
June |
145,300 |
153,600 |
|
6.5 |
6.6 |
|
|
July |
146,400 |
157,100 |
|
6.5 |
6.7 |
|
|
August |
144,300 |
156,000 |
|
6.4 |
6.7 |
|
|
September |
143,900 |
156,100 |
|
6.4 |
6.7 |
|
|
October |
141,500 |
153,600 |
|
6.3 |
6.5 |
|
|
November |
138,100 |
149,900 |
|
6.1 |
6.4 |
|
|
December |
: |
146,700 |
|
: |
6.2 |
: Data not available
Seasonal Adjustment
To correct for typical seasonal patterns, the data series included have been concurrently seasonally adjusted. This seasonal adjustment is completed by applying the X-12-ARIMA model, developed by the U.S. Census Bureau. In the case of these monthly unemployment estimates, seasonal adjustment is conducted using the indirect approach, where each individual series is independently adjusted. To preserve consistency between the individual and aggregate series, the series for gender, age group and total monthly unemployed are then created from these component series. The series for monthly unemployment rates are likewise created from these component series.
Additional Background Information
Further information regarding the LFS and Live Register series are available from each respective release, while specific information regarding the new LFS and the impact of the revisions arising from the Census of Population 2016 is available in an additional information note.
http://www.cso.ie/en/csolatestnews/presspages/2018/labourforcesurveyq32017/
Hide Background Notes
Scan the QR code below to view this release online or go to
http://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/mue/monthlyunemploymentdecember2017/
Show Table 1a Seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment by sex - all persons aged 15-74 years
Hide Table 1a Seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment by sex - all persons aged 15-74 years