Monthly unemployment remains at 5% as employees and employers look ahead to Budget 2027
The main unemployment rate was 5% in September 2026, unchanged from the 5% recorded in August 2026 and up slightly from the 4.9% recorded in September 2025.
There was an increase of 5,800 in the seasonally adjusted number of unemployed people in September 2026 compared with a year earlier.
Jack Kennedy, senior economist at hiring platform Indeed, comments on the latest CSO data:
The main monthly unemployment rate was 5% in September 2026, unchanged from the rate of 5% recorded in August 2026.
The figure continues a trend of slightly higher unemployment rates this year, with revised rates of 5% recorded in six of the first nine months of 2026 and 4.9% in each of the other three.
Although unemployment rates have generally been closer to 5% this year, the monthly unemployment rate has now remained at or below 5% for 57 consecutive months, from January 2022 to September 2026.
It comes as Indeed’s Irish Job Postings Index shows that hiring demand remains stable following a period of decline. Job postings, a real-time measure of employer demand, were 0.7% below their pre-pandemic baseline as of September 25, improving from 2.2% below baseline at the end of August.
With hiring demand stabilising and unemployment remaining low, attention is turning to how Budget 2027 can help sustain employment growth through a more uncertain economic period. Against a backdrop of ongoing global trade tensions, economic uncertainty and inflationary pressure, employees and employers will be looking for measures that support incomes and continued job creation.
Employees are likely to welcome a meaningful improvement in take-home pay and measures that address the cost of housing, energy and childcare. A well-designed income tax package could help households manage these pressures while easing some of the pressure on employers to deliver higher incomes entirely through gross wage increases.
For many employers, particularly SMEs, the immediate priority is retaining the capacity to recruit, invest and expand while managing higher energy and operating costs.
Employers across the economy are also focused on the longer-term conditions required to support employment and investment. These include a competitive personal tax system, access to skilled workers and faster delivery of housing, energy and transport infrastructure—issues that are particularly important to multinationals competing internationally for talent and new investment.
There is considerable common ground. Measures that improve take-home pay, reduce housing, childcare and energy costs, and support workforce training would benefit employees while helping employers retain staff, address skills needs and continue creating jobs.
