On May 4th 2023, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) published the Monthly Unemployment (MU) figures for April 2023. The Monthly Unemployment figures are estimated using trends in the Live Register figures based on data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The LFS is published on a quarterly basis and the data coming from the most recent LFS can lead to revisions in the Monthly Unemployment data published in previous months. The Labour Force Survey for Quarter 1, 2023 is scheduled to be published by the CSO on May 24th.
According to the Monthly Unemployment figures 108,200 people were unemployed in April 2023, a drop of 12% over the year, or 15,200 fewer people. The Monthly Unemployment Rate (MUR) was 3.9%, a decline of 0.7 percentage points. 3,300 fewer men and 11,900 less women were unemployed than in April 2022. The Monthly Unemployment Rate for men was 0.3 percentage points lower, at 4.3%, and 1.1 ppt lower for women, at 3.6%. Women accounted for 43% of the unemployed in April 2023, 4 percentage points lower than in April 2022.
In April 2023, 27,600 people aged 15-24 were unemployed: 6,700 fewer young people than a year ago. Their MUR was 7.9%, 1.6 percentage points lower than April 2022. Over the year, unemployment amongst young men dropped by 4,600 to 14,700, and their unemployment rate was 8.3%, a decrease of 2.3 percentage points over the year. Unemployment amongst young women decreased by 2,100 to 12,900, and their unemployment rate fell by 1 percentage points to 7.4%. In April 2023, women accounted for 47% of those unemployed in this age category, in comparison to 44% in April 2022.
The monthly unemployment figures for people aged 25-74 dropped by 9.5% over the year to 80,600 people, and their MUR decreased by 0.5 percentage points to 3.4%. However, unemployment increased for men in this age category by 2.8% to 47,200, and their MUR was 3.7%, the same as April 2022. Unemployment declined for women in this age category, by 23% to 33,400 women and their Monthly Unemployment Rate (MUR) declined by 1 percentage point to 3%. Women accounted for 41% of those unemployed in this age category in April 2023, a decrease of 7 percentage points over the year.