February unemployment rate drops to 3.9pc

RecruitAuto.ie reports that new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) today show that the unemployment rate fell from four per cent in January to 3.9 per cent last month (February).

Adjusted annually, the CSO confirmed the unemployment rate of 3.9 per cent is actually down from a revised rate of 4.2 per cent for the same month last year (2024).

Both the auto and transport industries on the island of Ireland continue to have great difficulty in recruiting suitable staff for a growing number vacant positions.

Economists say Ireland is a full employment with 2.8 million at work, as of the end of 2024. That figure is up 2.6 per cent compared with 2023.

Today’s CSO figures also show that youth unemployment rate decreased to 11.3 per cent in February from a revised rate of 11.8 per cent in January.

The gender breakdown in today’s CSO figures show that the monthly jobless rate for men stood at 3.8 per cent in February, down from the rate of four per cent the previous month. recorded the same figure recorded in January 2024.

For women, the monthly unemployment rate last month fell to 3.9 per cent from a revised rate of 4 per cent in January 2025. That was also down from a rate of 4.3per cent in February 2024.

The CSO said: “The seasonally adjusted number of people who were unemployed stood at 111,500 in February, compared with 115,700 in January 2025.

“There was a fall of 5,600 in the seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed in February of this year when compared with February 2024.”