The unemployment rate for 15 to 65-year-olds reached 5.3% in the third quarter of this year, up 0.8 percentage points from 4.5% the same time in 2024.
This is the highest rate recorded since the third quarter of 2021 as Ireland emerged from Covid.
There were 155,400 unemployed people aged 15-74 years which is an increase of 25,900 on the same period last year, according to the Central Statistics Office.
The employment rate for 15 to 65-year-olds was 74.7% was slightly down from 75.3% in the same time a year earlier.
However, the number of people in employment aged 15 to 89 years rose by 30,600 or 1.1% to 2.82 million.
The youth unemployment rate was 47.5% down from 50.9% in the same period last year.
Today's CSO figures show more than six out of ten of those in employment - or 1.8 million - said they never worked from home.
Almost a million said they worked from home at least some of the time and just over half a million said they usually worked from home more than half of the time, down almost quarter of a million in early 2021.
The CSO also said today that the estimated Labour Force - the total of all people aged 15-89 years who were either employed or unemployed - stood at 2,980,900 in the third quarter of this year, up 1.9% from the third quarter of 2024.
The estimated labour market participation rate was 66.5%, down from 66.6% in 2024, it added.
Meanwhile, the estimated total number of hours worked per week in the three months from July to September increased by 0.5 million hours (0.6%) to 86.5 million hours compared to the same three month period last year.
Andrew Webb, chief economist at Grant Thornton Ireland, said today's CSO figures show that the Irish labour market is softening.
"Employment is still rising, but only modestly, and the unemployment rate has climbed to 5.3%, the highest it has been in four years," he said.
"Beneath those headlines, the CSO's figures provide another important signal. The number of people with a loose but real attachment to the labour market stands at 119,200. That group is smaller than a year ago, but significantly larger than in 2023, with sizeable shares held back by illness or disability, or caring responsibilities," he said.
He said the Labour Force Survey indicators point to a labour market that is cooling while also struggling to draw people on the margins into work.
"The challenge now is not simply job creation but activation to tackle participation barriers like a lack of affordable childcare or health-related barriers. Ireland's fundamentals remain sound, but the labour market's direction of travel is noteworthy," he added.
