Irish jobless rate including COVID-19 payouts falls to 10%

Ireland’s unemployment rate, including people receiving temporary COVID-19 jobless benefits, fell to a fresh pandemic low of 10% in September from 12.4% in August, the Central Statistics Office said on Wednesday.

Excluding recipients of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, which is being gradually phased out over the next five months, the rate fell to 6.4% from a revised 6.5%.

Ireland’s Finance Ministry forecast last week that unemployment would average 7.2% next year and fall to 6% in 2023 as the economy continues to recover from the pandemic.