Employees number increase despite contractions across several sectors
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Employment figures have shown signs of levelling off in new findings by the Central Statistics Office, with construction, agriculture, industry, administration and services all reporting a fall in employees in April this year.
Furthermore, three sectors saw employment numbers remain unchanged, including wholesale and retail trade, professional and scientific services and the information and communications sector which has undergone mass layoffs impacting more than 3,000 people since November last year.
Despite this, the number of people employed rose marginally month-on-month, increasing by 5,400 to total 2,446,500 in April, reflecting a rise of 0.2% and a 2.7% increase compared to the same period last year.
The construction sector contracted by 1.1% in the month, reflecting the largest decrease, followed by administrative services which fell by 0.9% in the same period.
However, seven sectors grew in the same period, with accommodation and food services leading the increase, rising by 1% ahead of the summer season.
This was followed by financial, insurance and real estate, where employees number increased by 0.7% month-on-month. In the 12 months to April 2023, the financial, insurance & real estate activities sector saw the largest rise in the number of employees, increasing by 7.1% annually.
Latest CSO figures also show that females have outpaced males in securing employment, with the female employee index rising by 2.9% compared to 2.3% for males. Figures also show a rise in those over the age of 65 finding employment, rising by 0.4% in April this year.
The data follows CSO findings reporting record low unemployment of just 3.8% in May, eclipsing the low rates exhibited in Ireland during the Celtic Tiger era, with the Irish economy being the fast-growing in Europe for a number of years.