One hundred people came off the live register in July, as the number of people in receipt of benefits dropped to 171,900, data from the Central Statistics Offices shows.
The 25-34 age group made up the largest number of those on the register in the month at 42,954 people, or 23.1 per cent of the total.
While the live register is not an accurate measure of unemployment, as people with part-time work can be entitled to benefits, it does track trends in the labour market.
The data for July showed 122,109 people had been on the register for less than one year, which was 4,676 fewer people than July last year.
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There were 18,039 people recorded as having benefited from the EU’s Temporary Protection Directive, which was a drop of 490 people compared with the previous month.
The EU directive is designed to provide “immediate and temporary protection in the event of a mass influx or imminent mass influx of displaced persons from non-EU countries who are unable to return to their country of origin”.
The largest percentage increases in the number of people on the live register in the 12 months to July were in Kildare (3.5 per cent) and Offaly (1.1 per cent).
The number of people on the register for a year or more was 63,859, which was 4,142 fewer people than a year earlier.
The Irish economy is forecast to grow at a modest but steady pace in 2024 and 2025 as inflation wanes and consumers enjoy a bounce in real wages. This is expected to keep unemployment anchored near 4 per cent.
In its latest quarterly bulletin, the Central Bank of Ireland noted that “though the pace of employment growth has slowed, labour market conditions remain tight”.
The regulator said the unemployment rate was stable at close to historical lows of just over 4 per cent, even with increases in labour supply from rising participation and net inward migration.
The unemployment rate is projected to remain low, averaging 4.5 per cent out to 2026, it said.
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