On the 19th February 2026, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) published the Labour Force Survey (LFS) for Quarter 4 2025, which covers the months of October to December.
The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a continuous household survey carried out by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and is the official source for employment and unemployment estimates in Ireland.
- The current unemployment rate is 4.4%.
- The number of people in unemployment has increased by 10.4% from 2024.
- The number of men considered to be long-term unemployed has increased from 14,200 to 22,200, a 56.3% increase over the year.
- Unemployment rates and participation rates are both increasing – this indicates continued mismatches for people seeking work and the jobs that are available.
Unemployment
In this quarter 128,200 people were unemployed, an increase of 12,100 (10.4%) from the same quarter in 2024. The unemployment rate in Q4 2025 was 4.4%, an increase of 0.4 percentage points (ppts) over the year.
The unemployment rate for women was 4.3%, an increase of 0.5 ppts from Q4 2024. The unemployment rate for men was 4.4%, 0.1 ppt higher than Quarter 4 2024. Women accounted for 46.1% of the unemployed in Q4 2025, 2.1 percentage points higher than in Quarter 4 2024.
The unemployment rate for young people aged 15-24 years was 9.8%, decrease of 0.1 percentage points over the year. The unemployment rate for people aged 25-74 years olds was 3.6%, an increase of 0.4 ppts from Quarter 4 2024. Young people accounted for 27.3% of the unemployed in Quarter 4 2025, a decrease of 2.8 ppts.
The number of people deemed long-term unemployed (over one year) increased by 0.2 percentage points over the year to 1.2%, amounting to 36,200 people. Women accounted for 38.7% of the long-term unemployed in Q4 2025, a decrease of 10.9ppts compared to Quarter 4 2024.
The number of men considered to be long-term unemployed has increased from 14,200 to 22,200, a 56.3% increase over the year.
The Potential Additional Labour Force
The Potential Additional Labour Force (PALF) captures people who may not fit into the official definition of unemployment, whereby people have to be actively seeking work for the previous four weeks and available to take up work in the coming two weeks of the survey. In Q4 2025, PALF stood at 11,400, an increase of 14,000 from a year earlier.
The CSO noted that “Of those who stated that they wanted to work but were not seeking work or available for work in Q4 2025, 30.3% said this was due to education or training. This compares to 25.0% a year earlier. Persons not seeking work due to own illness or disability accounted for 27.6% of the total in Q4 2025, down from 32.0% in Q4 2024.”
Employment Figures
Over the year the number of people employed in Ireland increased by 2.0% to 2,833,100 people. The employment rate was 74.5%, an increase of 0.2 percentage points over the year. Full-time employment increased by 2.5% to 2,250,500 people, accounting for 79.4% of those in employment. Women accounted for 41.7% of people in full-time employment in Quarter 4 2025, 0.2 percentage points lower than Q4 in 2024.
Over the year part-time employment decreased by 1,900 people to 582,600: within this figure, part-time underemployment decreased by 3.6% to 121,300 people. In Q4 2025 women accounted for 67.1% of people in part-time employment, and 62.1% of people who were underemployed.
The Labour Force
Over the year the Labour Force rose by 2.4% to 2,961,300 people. The labour force consists of people who are in employment plus people who are unemployed. Two factors influence changes in the Labour Force: the demographic effect (+44,000) and the participatory effect (+24,800).
The participation rate in Q4 2025 was 65.8%, an increase of 0.3 ppt from Q4 2024. The participation rate measures the share of the total population aged 15 years and over who are in the labour force. Over the year the participation rate increased by 0.4 ppts to 71.0% for men and for women increased by 0.2 ppts to 60.8%.