Irish employment at record high
Employment grew by 2.3% year-on-year (y-o-y) in Ireland in Q2 2025 taking the number employed to over 2.8m, a new record high. While quarterly growth was very modest, at just 0.1%, this followed a strong 1.1% quarterly increase in Q1. Job gains were broad based, though employment in 4 of the 14 sectors fell in the year (most notably in ICT), while there was a sizable gain in construction employment. The unemployment rate did tick up last quarter but it remained relatively low at4.6%. Employment growth continues and the labour market remains quite tight but, while quarterly data can be volatile, we are seeing some signs of slowing from the unsustainable pace of employment growth present over the past number of years. This is in line with our view, and employment growth was running at 2.8% in the first half of the year, similar to our full year forecast of 2.6%.
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