Youth unemployment continues to grow despite growing market revenue. Trade Unionists push for policymakers to wake up.
As recorded by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), youth unemployment (aged 15-24) in February 2026 increased to 12.4% despite overall unemployment dropping by .4% since 2024. This is an increase of .5% since January of this year. There is a marked difference between men and women, with men accounting for 13.2% and women 11.5% of the unemployment rate. However, this statistic has been heavily fluctuating since 2024. Overall, youth unemployment has been a recurring trend since 2007, when it stood at 8.5%, and has only continued to increase.
This has caused mixed feelings amongst economists, wherein Dr Laura Bambrick of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions was quoted last year saying, “Consistently having in or around 40,000 young people without work in a booming economy cannot and should not be ignored by policymakers and wider society,” Alternatively, Jack Kennedy, a senior economist, remarked on Indeed that despite concerns regarding youth unemployment Ireland continues to have a high level of labour market participation.
It is hard to determine the drivers of the increase in youth unemployment, but certain economists have pointed to declining confidence in firms following the United States’ tariffs. Outside of this, common arguments for why youth unemployment is high regard the minimum wage and “generous” welfare payments; however, Dr Bambrick has pushed against this narrative, stating this argument ignores key facts such as the youth being one of the lowest welfare recipients, as well as youth unemployment being one of the lowest in the EU. Despite a seemingly growing economy and, overall, a relatively low youth unemployment rate, groups are calling on policymakers to remain alert, as these statistics may be indicators of an economic downturn.