On June 1st 2022, the CSO published the Monthly Unemployment (MU) figures for May 2022. 127,500 people were unemployed in May 2022, a drop of 27% over the year, and 46,700 fewer people unemployed. The Monthly Unemployment Rate (MUR) was 4.7%, a decline of 2.2 percentage points. Unemployment decreased for both men and women over the period, by 26,400 and 20,300 respectively. Women accounted for 46% of the unemployed in both May 2022 and in May 2021.
In May 2022, 18,600 people aged 15-24 were unemployed: 37,400 fewer young people than a year ago, and accounting for 80% of the overall drop in unemployment. Their MUR was 4.9% in May 2022, 13.1 percentage points lower than May 2021. This is the lowest levels of youth unemployment recorded in the Monthly Unemployment series, which runs from January 1998.
Over the year, unemployment amongst young men decreased by 74% to 7,600, and their unemployment rate was 4%. Unemployment amongst young women decreased by 58% to 11,000, but their unemployment rate was 5.8%. In May 2022, women accounted for 59% of those unemployed in this age category, in comparison to 47% in May 2021.
For people aged 25-74, 108,900 people were unemployed, a decrease of 9,300 people over the year and their MUR decreased by 0.8pp to 4.6%. Over the year unemployment decreased for men by 7% to 60,600, and their MUR was 4.8%. Unemployment decreased for women by 9% to 48,300, and their Monthly Unemployment Rate (MUR) was 4.4%. Women accounted for 44% of those unemployed in this age category in both May 2022 and 45% in May 2021.