New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the unemployment rate fell to 4.1% in April from a revised rate of 4.4% a month earlier.
The CSO said that on an annual basis, the unemployment rate of 4.1% was also down from a rate of 4.4% in April of last year.
CSO revisions to the previous three months - a common occurrence when more detailed quarterly data is available - also put the unemployment rate in February at 4.4% and not the 3.9% that had provisionally matched the record low set in the early 2000s.
The jobless rate had previously provisionally matched that record low level during 2023 and at one point fell to 3.8%, before being revised higher.
It has remained between 4.1% and 4.6% since March 2022.
Today's CSO figures show that the monthly unemployment rate for men in April was 4%, a decline from a revised rate of 4.2% in March and down from the rate of 4.4% recorded in April 2024.
The unemployment rate for women was 4.2%, down from a revised rate of 4.5% the previous month and down from a rate of 4.4% the same month last year.
But the monthly youth unemployment rate increased to 11.4%, up from a revised rate of 10.5% in March.
The CSO said the seasonally adjusted number of people who were without a job stood at 119,500 in April, down from 127,900 in March.
Jack Kennedy, senior economist at hiring platform Indeed, said the latest jobless figures show no immediate change in the robustness of the Irish labour market at a time of increasing global uncertainty.
He said that while it is still too early to understand the full potential impact of the proposed tariffs, the current unpredictability has affected markets globally and created a situation where businesses are likely to be reviewing or pausing growth plans until they can be more certain of their future outlook.
The economist said the unemployment rate was predicted to remain below 5% throughout this year, but that prediction was made in late 2024 before the current volatility.
Today's CSO figures come as Indeed data suggests a further softening in Irish hiring demand in recent weeks.
"The latest data shows Irish job postings on Indeed, a real-time measure of labour market activity, are down 4.1% since April 2 when the details of the now-paused US tariff plans were announced," Mr Kennedy said.
He said the data shows job postings in certain sectors are more affected than others, with pharmaceuticals-linked categories such as Production & Manufacturing and Scientific Research & Development showing declines of 4% and 3.7% respectively as of April 18.
But tech job postings have shown signs of picking up having lagged for some time, with Software Development rising 0.7%.
"Persistent uncertainty could accelerate the steady retreat in Irish job postings. Since peaking in early 2022 at levels that were more than double their pre-pandemic baseline, the overall number of Irish job postings on Indeed has declined to 12% above pre-pandemic levels, a drop of 15.9% year on year," Jack Kennedy said.
"At a time of near full employment, this situation has not been an issue or concern, but further significant or less gradual declines could lead to a more uncertain period for the labour market," he added.
