Ireland’s unemployment rate reached 16.5% last month as thousands of people lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Central Statistics Office said the standard rate of unemployment for the month was 5.4%; however, if everyone receiving the Pandemic Unemployment Payment is included, the figure rises to 16.5%.

That figure rises to 34% among people aged 15 to 24-years-old and stands at 14% for people aged 25 and over.

The jobless rate stands at 17.8% for women and 15.4% for men.

CSO statistician Edel Flannery said the 283,037 people receiving pandemic payment do not meet the international criteria to be considered unemployed.

She said the 16.5% should be considered the “upper bound for the true rate of unemployment” while the 5.4% should be seen as the lower bound.

The figures do not include anyone who started receiving the pandemic payment since the end of March.

The ESRI today warned that the COVID-19 payments currently in place will cost the Exchequer nearly €5bn over three months.