An additional 300 people joined the live register last month amid warnings of a softening in the jobs market to bring the seasonally adjusted total to 171,100. The unadjusted live register total stood at 168,072 people for March, of which 56.3 per cent were male and 71 per cent were Irish. The 25-34 years age group made up the largest number of those on the live register in March at 39,854 people, or 23.7 per cent of the total. “This softening of the jobs market has been ongoing for an extended period and suggests a slowdown in job creation,” Kennedy said. There were 115,199 people on the live register for less than one year, which was 11,230 more people – up 10.8 per cent – than in March last year.

Source: The Irish Times April 03, 2026 06:54 UTC