Labour market participation rate reaches 15-year high
The employment rate for people aged 15-64 reached 74.1% in the latest quarter, up from 73.2% compared to the same period in 2022. Picture; David Creedon / Anzenberger
The number of people employed in the State increased by 4% in the three months ending in September, with a rate of participation in the labour market of 65.8% marking the highest recorded in fifteen years.
Figures from the latest Labour Force Survey published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that the number of people between 15-89 years in employment reached 2,655,900.
The 4% increase posted in the latest quarter of this year reflects 101,600 additional people joining the labour force and has grown by 12,900 since the previous quarter of this year.
Annually, the largest increase by numbers employed was in the information and communication sector, which grew by 17,300 in the last twelve months, despite widespread layoffs within Ireland's tech industry.
Across 13 different sectors, the employment rate increased in all but two, those being construction and industry.
The employment rate for people aged 15-64 reached 74.1% in the latest quarter, up from 73.2% compared to the same period in 2022.
With the labour market participation rate rising to 65.8% - its highest since the third quarter of 2008 - an estimated 573,900 or 21.6% of those in employment worked part-time, and 22.8% of those in part-time employment were classified as underemployed, meaning they wanted to work more hours for more pay.
The number of absences from work, which include temporary layoffs from work, family leave, or holidays during fell by 4.0% to 262,300 year-on-year. This, together with an increase of 4.0% in employment, resulted in a rise of 2.1% or 1.7 million more hours worked per week to 82.0 million hours per week in the third quarter of 2023.
The number of persons aged 15-74 years who were unemployed in the three months ending in September stood at 128,600, with an associated unemployment rate of 4.6%. The youth unemployment rate - representing 15-24-year-olds - stood at 12.2%, up from a rate of 12.0% recorded 12 months earlier.
There were 31,000 people in long-term unemployment, defined as unemployment lasting longer than one year, in the third quarter, a decrease of 800 people from the same period in 2022. The long-term unemployment rate remained unchanged at 1.1%.
The number of employees increased by 89,300 (4.1%) in the year to the end quarter to 2,287,000, while the number of self-employed increased by 2,800 to 338,000.
