Labour force increased by 31,300 – CSO
The labour force increased by 31,300 or 1.1% to 2,990,200 people in the 12 months to the second quarter (Q2) of 2026, CSO data shows.
The number of people aged 15 to 89 in employment rose by 21,200 to 2,839,300 people – an increase of 0.8% from Q2 2025.
The employment rate for people aged 15 to 64 was 74.3% – down from 74.7% in Q2 2025.
Labour market participation
There were 151,000 unemployed people aged 15 to 74 in Q2 using International Labour Organisation (ILO) criteria, with an associated unemployment rate of 5.1%, up from 4.8% in Q2 2025.
The estimated labour market participation rate in Q2 was 66%, down from 66.4% in Q2 2025.
The estimated total number of hours worked per week in Q2 was 89.0 million hours – unchanged when compared with Q2 2025.