The rate of employment in the country has increased once again, hitting a new record high, according to the latest Central Statistics Office figures.
The Labour Force Survey for the third quarter of the year shows that the estimated employment rate for people aged 15-64 years was 75.3% – the highest rate recorded since the series began in 1998.
The figure is 1.1 percentage points higher than the 74.2% recorded last year.
Employment
The estimated number of people in employment in the third quarter of 2024 stood at just under 2.8 million, up 3.7% or 98,600, compared with a year ago.
The estimated total number of hours worked per week in the third quarter of the year increased by 2.4 million hours or 2.9% to 85.9 million hours.
An estimated 585,700 of those in employment worked part-time, and 21.8% of them were classified as underemployed, meaning they would like to work more hours for more pay.
Unemployment
There were 129,500 unemployed people aged 15-74 years in the third quarter of the year, with an associated unemployment rate of 4.5%, down from 4.6% a year ago.
There were 27,100 people in long-term unemployment, unemployed for 12 months or longer, 4,200 fewer people than last year.
The corresponding rate of long-term unemployment was 0.9%, down from 1.1% a year earlier.
The youth unemployment rate, for those aged 15-24 years, stood at 11.5%, down from 12.3% last year.
The total number of unemployed people in this age group was 45,300, a decrease of 900.
Sectors
The largest increase in employment by economic sector were in professional, scientific and technical activities, which increased by 21,400 people.
Despite a number of recent restaurant closures, employment in the accommodation & food service sector recorded an annual increase of 16,900 or 9.2%.
The largest decrease in employment was in administrative & support service activities, which fell by 8,300.
The year-on-year change in hours worked varied across the different economic sectors.
The accommodation & food service activities sector saw the largest increase in hours worked, up by 700,000.
The largest sectoral decrease in hours worked was in the administrative & support service activities sector, which fell by 300,000 hours.
Article Source – Employment rate hits new record high in third quarter – RTE
