On January 12th 2022, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) published the Monthly Unemployment (MU) figures for December 2021. 132,100 people were unemployed in December 2021, a drop of 16,900 over the year. The Monthly Unemployment Rate (MUR) was 5.1%, a decline of 1.1 percentage points. Unemployment decreased for both men and women over the period, by 11,800 and 5,200 respectively. Women accounted for 46% of the unemployed in December 2021, and 45% in December 2020.
In December 2021, 36,400 people aged 15-24 were unemployed: 3,900 fewer young people than a year ago. Their MUR was 10.6% in December 2021, 4.8 percentage points lower than December, 2020. Over the year unemployment amongst young men increased by 1% to 18,700, and their unemployment rate was 10.3%. Unemployment amongst young women decreased by 19% to 17,700, and their unemployment rate was 10.9%. In December 2021, women accounted for 47% of those unemployed in this age category, in comparison to 54% in December 2020.
For people aged 25-74, 95,600 people were unemployed, a decrease of 13,200 people over the year and their MUR decreased by 0.8pp to 4.3%. Over the year unemployment decreased for men by 19% to 51,900, and their MUR was 4.4%. Unemployment also decreased for women, by 2% to 43,700, and their Monthly Unemployment Rate (MUR) was at 4.2%. Women accounted for 46% of those unemployed in this age category in December 2021, an increase of 4.5 percentage points over the year.
The impact of COVID-19
To allow for and capture the impact of COVID-19 on the labour market, the Central Statistics Office produce a lower and an upper bound to the monthly unemployment figures. The ‘upper bound’ assumes that everyone on a COVID-19 unemployment payment would be classified as unemployed. In this case the number of people out of work increases to 193,332 and the unemployment rate is 7.5%. Women accounted for 44.5% of the upper bound of people out of work, and their Monthly Unemployment Rate (MUR) was 7.1%.
The COVID-19 adjusted unemployment figures for people aged 15-24 years has an ‘upper bound’ of 37,323; and their COVID-19 adjusted MUR moves from a lower bound of 9% to an upper bound of 11.4%. Women accounted for 48.5% of those unemployed in this age category and their unemployment rate was 11.8%.
The COVID-19 adjusted unemployment figure for people aged 25-74 years has an upper bound of 156,009 and their MUR ranges from a lower bound of 4.3% to an upper bound of 7%. Women accounted for 43.6% of those unemployed in this age category and their MUR was 6.4%.
A year ago the COVID-19 adjusted unemployment figures were much higher. The overall figure was 518,270 people unemployed with an unemployment rate of 21.7%. The upper bound for young people in December 2020 was 126,337, with an unemployment rate of 51.1%. While for people aged 25-74 years, the figures were 391,933 and 18.3% respectively.