Unemployment in the Irish economy rose marginally to 5 per cent in June amid warnings from recruiters that Ireland’s jobs market is slowing.
The Central Statistics Office’s measure of joblessness rose from 4.9 per cent to 5 per cent between May and June.
That compared to a headline rate of 4.6 per cent in June last year.
The seasonally adjusted number of people classified as being unemployed was 145,100 in June, compared with 142,000 the previous month.
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This equated to an annual rise of 8,900.
The latest snapshot comes amid warnings that the labour market here is cooling after several years of significant growth.
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A recent sentiment survey from employers’ group Ibec suggested just 38 per cent of chief executives were planning to increase their headcount this year, down from 46 per cent last year.
There is also the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) which is expected to result in downsizing, particularly in the tech sector.
Meta, Oracle and TikTok have in recent weeks announced cutbacks.
TikTok announced last week that it would cut jobs at its Irish office, with up to 300 redundancies being signalled.
Meta said it would shed up to 350 roles from its Irish workforce as part of a wider cull across the business, with heavy investment in AI being blamed for the retrenchment.
“While the labour market has softened gradually over the past 12 months, an unemployment rate of around 5 per cent still points to stability and to an economy operating close to full employment,” Kate English, chief economist at Deloitte Ireland, said.
“The increase from 4.6 per cent a year ago suggests the exceptionally tight labour market of recent years is easing, but the adjustment rate has been gradual.”
Lisa Feist, economist at hiring platform Indeed, said: “This is the fourth month this year in which the unemployment rate has reached or surpassed 5 per cent, having been 5 per cent in January, February and March.
“The latest data from Indeed’s Irish job postings index, a real-time measure of employer demand, shows the level of job postings has continued to decrease this year.
"Postings are now 2.3 per cent below their February 1st 2020, pre-pandemic baseline, as of June 19th 2026, having fallen around 11 per cent over the past year," she said.
