Unemployment fell to 4.4% in November from the revised October rate of 4.5%, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has said.

The seasonally adjusted number of persons unemployed fell to 117,800 from 118,200 last month and 137,700 a year ago when unemployment was at 5.2%. Close to 20,000 people have exited unemployment over the past 12 months.

The unemployment rate for males (4.3%) and females (4.6%) was unchanged month-on-month. Those figures are down from 5.3% and 5.2% since November 2021, respectively.

The youth unemployment rate for persons aged 15-25 was unchanged at 12.1%, and the rate for persons aged 25-74 fell from 3.4% to 3.3%.

Unemployment had previously been measured at 4.4% last month, up from 4.3% in September

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The CSO said working age Ukrainian refugees who are on the Live Register as recipients of supports under the EU's Temporary Protection Directive had affected the numbers unemployment, primarily females, in monthly estimates for most of this year.

Regardless, Ireland remains close to full employment despite the rapidly changing economic environment, with inflation continuing to tighten its grip on the economy and injecting significant pain and challenge, according to Andrew Webb, chief economist at Grant Thornton Ireland.

"Throughout, the labour market has confounded weaker consumer and business sentiment surveys to continue growing," Webb continued.

"Today’s figures provide further encouragement, but we remain mindful of recent churn in the tech sector, which may impact unemployment figures in the months ahead. There is no doubt that the months ahead will be bumpy, but the labour market enters this period in a position of strength." 

Pawel Adrjan, economist at jobs website Indeed, agreed that the Irish labour market is showing "considerable strength" despite economic headwinds, with job postings on the site up by two-thirds of pre-pandemic levels.

"Low unemployment levels and a tight labour market may impact on employers’ ability to accommodate the Christmas rush as businesses remain constrained due to a lack of staff," he warned.

"There are warnings of labour shortages in sectors including hospitality, retail and construction, which rely on seasonal hires to manage the surge. Whilst this is challenging for business owners, it may put employees in a strong position as wage inflation, alongside other inflationary pressures such as energy prices, is already at the forefront."

Ardjan noted that job postings were most abundant in the therapy, pharmacy, personal care and home health sectors coming into the winter, but services jobs had rebounded in October.

Indeed's latest monthly wage growth tracker showed wages had risen 4.7% in October. The CSO said on Tuesday that average weekly earnings rose 3.5% in the third quarter.

(Pic: Getty Images)