Employment levels in Ireland reach record high - Kilkenny Live

Employment figures in Ireland have reached a record high, and now stand at the highest since records began. 

The number of persons aged 15-89 years in employment increased by 68,600 or 2.7% to 2,574,500 persons in the 12 months to Q4 2022.

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This is the highest number of persons employed in the State since the series began in 1998.

The employment rate for persons aged 15-64 years was up from 73.0% to 73.2% over the 12 months to Q4 2022.

Of those who were in employment in Q4 2022, an estimated 203,700 (7.9%) were absent from work during the reference week (i.e. temporarily absent from work for reasons such as holidays, sick leave or maternity leave).

This compares with 252,100 (10.1%) who were absent from work during the reference week in Q4 2021.

There were 112,000 unemployed persons aged 15-74 years in Q4 2022 using International Labour Organisation (ILO) criteria, with an associated unemployment rate for those aged 15-74 of 4.2%, down from 4.9% in Q4 2021.

The unemployment rate among those aged 15-24 years (the youth unemployment rate) was 9.1% in Q4 2022, down from 10.2% in Q4 2021.

The estimated Labour Force (i.e., the sum of all persons aged 15-89 years who were either employed or unemployed) stood at 2,686,500 in Q4 2022, up by 2.0% (53,200) from Q4 2021.

The estimated participation rate in Q4 2022 was 64.6%, down from 65.1% in Q4 2021.

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a continuous household survey carried out by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and is the official source for employment and unemployment estimates in Ireland.

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The official labour market classification of respondents to the LFS is based on International Labour Organisation (ILO) concepts and definitions.

All European Union (EU) Member States are legally obliged to carry out a Labour Force Survey and to provide these data to Eurostat on a quarterly basis, as set out in the Integration of European Social Statistics (IESS) framework regulation (EU 2019/1700) and Implementing Regulation (EU 2019/2240), which apply from 01 January 2021.