The number of people in employment peaked in May 2022 in Ireland but has been declining in recent months according to the CSO’s Employee Index.

The estimate uses Revenue’s PAYE Modernisation as the data source. Persons are counted if they are estimated to have worked for greater than zero pay during the reference month.

This differs from the criteria used to derive International Labour Organisation and Principal Economic Status employment.

The index of payroll employees was measured at 109.3 in May 2002 compared with 103.6 in March 2020 before the Covid pandemic.

The index measure for July 2022 was 107.7

In Association with

In the year to July, all age groups saw annual increases in the employee index. The highest increases were in those aged 15–19 years (+17.2%) and 65 years and over (+12.1%).

However, all age groups saw monthly decreases in the employee index from June to July.

The Accommodation & Food Services Activities sector saw an annual increase of 24.8% in July 2022. When compared with pre-pandemic levels in July 2019, the sector increased by 5.7%.

Tourism Industries and Cultural & Creative Industries saw increases in their indices of 23.0% and 6.2% respectively in July 2022 when compared with July 2021.

Statistician John Mullane noted that employee numbers in the Arts, Entertainment, Recreation & Other Service Activities sector is still below the July 2019 outcome, down 2.0%.

The age group 25-34 years recorded the smallest increase in the employee index when comparing July 2019 with July 2022 at 2.6%.

The highest increases in this three-year period were noted in the following age groups: 33.5% for 15-19 years, 20.9% for 65 years and over, and 15.4% for 60-64 years.

Accommodation & Food Services Activities sector had the largest decrease in the monthly index (-6.3%), while Information & Communication had the largest increase (+0.2%) in July 2022.