The unemployment rate hit its highest rate in two and a half years in July, rising to 4.7% from an upwardly revised 4.5% a month earlier, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show today.
Data for March to May that had previously put the jobless rate near a record low in each month at 4% were also revised higher.
This means that unemployment has now risen for five successive months from 4.1% in February, but it has remained below 5% since January 2022.
Today's CSO figures show there was an increase of 16,200 in the seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed in July of this year compared with a year earlier.
The CSO said the jobless rate for men in July was 4.7%, up from the revised rate of 4.5% in June and also higher than the rate of 4.5% in July of last year.
Meanwhile, the rate for women rose to 4.8% from the revised rate of 4.5% in June, and up from a rate of 4.1% in July 2023.
Today's CSO figures also show that the monthly youth unemployment rose to 11.4% in July from a revised rate of 10.4% in June.
Jack Kennedy, senior economist at hiring platform Indeed, said that despite the rise in joblessness in July, growth momentum in the economy remains strong and this continues to support a solid level of hiring demand.
"This steady performance continues despite an ongoing softening of the labour market. Our latest data at Indeed shows job postings have continued to retreat from post-pandemic highs," the economist said.
"As of July 26, job postings on Indeed, a real-time measure of labour market activity, were down 22% compared to a year ago, although they remain 15% above pre-pandemic levels recorded on February 1, 2020," he noted.
He also said the Indeed data shows considerable variation in the strength of job postings across occupational categories.
Public sector-related occupations in areas such as social services, healthcare and education feature prominently among those categories where job postings are furthest above pre-pandemic levels, while tech and professional categories are among the laggards, he noted.
"While Ireland's economy is vulnerable to global events and there are ongoing concerns in relation to heightened geopolitical tensions, fragile consumer confidence, a risk of recession in the US and a potential credit crunch, there are realistic expectations for moderate growth for the remainder of this year and throughout next year," he said
"If realised, this should ensure the jobs market remains robust and unemployment continues to remain below or near to 5%," he concluded.
But Andrew Webb, chief economist at Grant Thornton Ireland, said today that the Government's budget planning should be increasingly mindful of headwinds in the labour market and plan accordingly, particularly in given the uncertainty created by Intel's announcement to shed 15,000 jobs globally.
"These are nervous times," he added.
