Back to Top

 Skip navigation

Employment

2.1 Ireland and EU: Employment rate, 2003-20141
  
% aged 15 -64
 IrelandEU
YearMenWomenMenWomen
200374.955.470.355.0
200475.756.170.255.3
200576.658.270.756.0
200677.759.171.657.1
200777.560.672.458.1
200875.460.472.758.8
200966.857.670.658.3
201063.956.070.058.1
201162.855.670.058.3
201262.455.269.658.5
201364.655.969.458.7
201465.755.9::
Source: CSO QNHS, Eurostat LFS
1 Data from the QNHS is from Q2 except for 2014 which is Q1

 

  • The employment rate for men in Ireland during the years 2003 to 2008 was in the range 74-78%; however it fell sharply in 2009 to 66.8% and declined again in 2010 to 63.9%. 
  • 2011 and 2012 saw further small decreases which left the male employment rate at 62.4% in 2012 before rising to 64.6% in 2013.
  • There has been a futher small rise in the male employment rate to 65.7% in the first quarter of 2014.
  • The employment rate for women in Ireland rose from 55.4% in 2003 to 60.6% in 2007 before falling over the next five years to stand at 55.2% in 2012. 
  • There was a small rise in the employment rate for women in 2013 to 55.9% and this rate remained unchanged in the first quarter of 2014.
  • The male and female employment rates in Ireland were above the EU averages between 2003 and 2008 but decreases in these rates after 2008 saw the Irish rates fall below the EU averages between 2009 and 2013.
2.2 EU: Employment rate, 2013
     
  % aged 15-64 % aged 55-64
CountryMenWomenMenWomen
Sweden76.372.576.970.3
Denmark75.070.066.556.8
Netherlands78.769.970.250.0
Germany77.768.869.857.5
Finland69.967.856.560.5
Austria77.167.654.336.0
United Kingdom75.665.966.953.1
Estonia71.465.761.463.6
Latvia66.863.455.254.6
Lithuania64.762.856.151.2
France67.960.448.343.1
Czech Republic75.759.662.541.4
Slovenia67.159.241.825.2
Luxembourg72.159.148.332.4
EU69.458.757.543.3
Portugal64.058.253.240.7
Belgium66.457.247.735.8
Cyprus67.056.961.138.3
Bulgaria62.156.851.943.4
Ireland64.655.958.743.1
Slovakia66.453.453.335.7
Poland66.653.451.331.0
Hungary64.352.846.232.3
Romania66.852.651.532.7
Spain59.149.750.936.2
Malta74.146.653.718.4
Italy64.846.552.933.1
Croatia52.845.643.729.7
Greece58.440.145.825.9
     
Iceland83.279.087.275.1
Switzerland84.674.479.963.6
Norway77.373.574.967.1
Macedonia54.537.349.426.6
Turkey69.529.645.218.3
Source: CSO QNHS, Eurostat LFS

 

  • In 2013 the employment rate in Ireland for women aged 15-64 was 55.9%, below the EU average of 58.7% and the 10th lowest rate in the EU.
  • The employment rate for women aged 15-64 was 70% or above in Sweden and Denmark while the lowest rate of 40.1% was in Greece.
  • The employment rate for men aged 15-64 in Ireland was 64.6%, below the EU average of 69.4% and the 7th lowest rate in the EU in 2013.
  • In 2013 the employment rate in Ireland for men aged 55-64 was 58.7%, 1.2 percentage points above the EU average of 57.5% while the rate for women at 43.1% was just below the EU average of 43.3%.
Open in Excel:
MenWomen
200364.9733.45
200464.8234.05
200565.6437.37
200666.4239.73
200768.139.95
200866.4541.43
200962.241.46
201058.3543.06
201157.8243.61
201255.8843.18
201358.6543.14
  • Between 2003 and 2011 the employment rate for women aged 55-64 in Ireland increased from 33.5% to 43.6% before dropping slightly to 43.1% in 2013.
  • The rate of employment for men aged 55-64 rose from 65% in 2003 to 68.1% in 2007 before dropping over the following five years to stand at 55.9% by 2012 followed by a rise to 58.7% in 2013.
  • The gap in employment rates for men and women aged 55-64 has narrowed from 31.5 percentage points in 2003 to just 15.6 points in 2013.
2.4 Ireland: Labour force participation rate1 (ILO) by age group, 2013
  
 % of cohort in labour force
Age groupMenWomenTotal% women
15-1917.017.417.249.0
20-2467.964.566.247.8
25-3488.078.383.048.8
35-4491.971.581.743.9
45-5488.467.678.043.6
55-5976.258.267.143.6
60-6456.434.545.438.2
65 & over14.55.09.428.9
Total67.953.460.544.9
Source: CSO QNHS
1 Persons in the labour force as a proportion of the population.

 

  • In 2013, the labour force participation rate for men was highest for the 35-44 age group at 91.9%. For women, the highest participation rate occurred in the 25-34 age group, with 78.3% of women in that age group in the labour force.
  • The participation rate for older women was much lower than that for men, with a rate of 34.5% for women aged 60-64 compared with 56.4% for men in this age group.
  • Women represented 44.9% of the labour force in 2013. Just under half (49%) of the labour force aged 15-19 were female, the highest proportion across all age groups.
2.5 Ireland: Labour force participation rate1 (ILO) by sex
  
% of cohort in labour force
YearMenWomenTotal
200370.949.359.9
200471.549.860.5
200572.551.962.1
200673.453.163.2
200773.754.764.1
200873.154.563.7
200971.154.062.5
201069.053.461.1
201168.153.260.5
201267.852.860.1
201367.953.460.5
Source: CSO QNHS
1 Persons in the labour force as a proportion of the population.

 

  • The labour force participation rate for women increased from 49.3% in 2003 to 54.7% in 2007 before falling over the next five years to 52.8% by 2012 and then increasing slightly to 53.4% in 2013.
  • The participation rate for men rose from 70.9% in 2003 to 73.7% by 2007 and then decreased to 67.9% by 2013.
  • Between 2003 and 2013 the gap in the labour force participation rate between men and women narrowed from 21.6 to 14.5 percentage points.
2.6 Ireland: Persons in employment by occupation, 2013
    
 2013
Broad occupational groupMenWomenTotal
Managers, directors and senior officials105.246.7151.9
Professionals148.2207.7355.9
Associate professional and technical130.186.6216.8
Administrative and secretarial42.8166.5209.4
Skilled trades252.124.2276.3
Caring, leisure and other services23.7120.7144.4
Sales and customer service53.4106.7160.1
Process, plant and machine operatives119.622.5142.1
Elementary127.979.9207.8
Other2.62.85.4
Total1,005.7864.31,869.9
Source: CSO QNHS

 

  • In 2013 864,300 women and 1,005,700 men were in employment in Ireland.
  • Nearly a quarter (24%) of women in employment were in professional occupations and close to a fifth (19.3%) were in administrative and secretarial occupations.
  • A quarter of men (25.1%) in employment were in skilled trades occupations while 14.7% were employed in professional occupations.
  • In 2013, 46.2% of those in employment were female. Over nine out of every ten workers (91.2%) in skilled trades was male while just over five out of every six workers (83.6%) in caring, leisure and other serivces was female.
2.7 Ireland and EU: Employment by economic sector, 2012
 
% in employment aged 15 & over
NACE sectorIrelandEU
MenWomen% womenMenWomen% women
AAgriculture, forestry and fishing7.91.211.75.84.136.9
B-EIndustry16.87.929.123.211.028.5
FConstruction9.60.75.712.01.59.3
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles14.115.248.613.115.149.1
HTransportation and storage7.42.220.97.32.421.8
IAccommodation and food service activities5.87.453.23.85.454.5
JInformation and communication5.92.829.83.72.031.5
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate activities4.76.354.33.44.351.1
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities6.44.739.35.05.246.5
N Administrative and support service activities3.43.547.73.84.348.4
OPublic administration and defence; compulsory social security5.45.547.46.97.146.2
P Education3.812.774.63.911.771.3
QHuman health and social work activities5.022.880.24.318.277.9
R-UOther NACE activities4.07.160.93.57.765.0
Total100.0100.046.8100.0100.045.6
Persons in employment (000s)1977859 118,39099,120 
Source: Eurostat LFS, CSO QNHS
 
1 EU 27 percentage breakdown excludes NACE sector not stated, total in employment includes NACE sector not stated.

 

  • In 2012, the education and health sectors employed 35.5% of women at work in Ireland and 29.9% of women at work in the EU.
  • The construction sector had the lowest proportion of women at work in Ireland, with men representing 94.3% of those at work in 2012.
  • The sectors with the most gender-blanced workforces in Ireland in 2012 were wholesale and retail trade, administrative and support services and public administration and defence.
  • The percentage of women employed in each economic sector in Ireland is broadly similar to the pattern in the EU, wth the exception of agriculture, forestry and fishing where only 11.7% of those at work are women compared with 36.9% in the EU.
2.8 Ireland: Employment by usual hours worked, 2008 and 2013
     
000s
 20082013
Usual hours workedMenWomenMenWomen
1-99.128.99.627.0
10-1922.296.630.985.1
20-2953.9188.771.5177.8
30-3424.169.125.469.9
35-39427.8348.2287.3269.4
40-44298.4118.6258.7125.8
45 and over200.131.7156.935.0
Varied & not stated173.156.9165.474.3
Total1,208.6938.71,005.7864.3
Average hours per week40.231.339.231.2
Source: CSO QNHS

 

  • Both men and women worked fewer hours per week in paid employment in 2013 than in 2008. In 2008 women worked for an average of 31.3 hours per week, dropping slightly to 31.2 in 2013. For men, the reduction was from 40.2 to 39.2 hours per week.
  • In 2013, 72.4% of men in employment worked for 30 or more hours a week compared with 57.9% of women. The comparable figures for 2008 were 78.6% for men and 60.5% for women.
  • Just over three-quarters (76.8%) of all those who worked 40 hours or more a week were men in 2008 and this proportion had fallen slightly to 72.1% by 2013.
  • Women represented nearly four out of five (78.7%) of those who worked up to 29 hours per week in paid employment in 2008 and this figure had fallen to 72.1% by 2013.
2.9 Ireland: Employment by marital status and usual hours worked, 2013
      
%
 SingleMarriedSeparated / divorced / widowed
Usual hours workedMenWomenMenWomenMenWomen
1-194.58.72.110.45.511.8
20-299.316.05.823.66.923.4
30-3933.741.429.838.628.033.0
40 and over37.021.744.116.836.115.2
Varied & not stated15.612.218.110.723.516.6
Total100.0100.0100.0100.0100.0100.0
Total persons (000s)357.5340.6610.2457.337.966.4
Source: CSO QNHS

 

  • In 2013 married men worked longer hours in paid employment than married women, with 44.1% of married men working for 40 or more hours per week compared with 16.8% of married women.
  • In contrast, 23.6% of married women worked for 20-29 hours per week compared with just 5.8% of married men.
  • Close to two out of five single men (37%) worked for 40 hours or more a week compared with just over one in five (21.7%) single women.
2.10 Ireland: Employment rates of couples (with/without children) and lone parents aged 20-44 by age of youngest child, 2013
  
employment rate
Family statusMenWomen
No children86.285.6
Youngest child aged 0-381.959.5
Youngest child aged 4-576.251.7
Youngest child aged 6 or over80.259.3
Total81.963.0
Source: CSO QNHS

 

  • In 2013 the employment rate for women who were lone parents or were part of a couple with/without children and who were aged 20-44 years was 63%.
  • This rate varied from 85.6% for women with a husband/partner and no children to 51.7% for women whose youngest child was aged between 4 and 5 years of age, a difference of 33.9 percentage points.
  • In contrast, the employment rate for men with a wife/partner and no children was 86.2% while the rate for men whose youngest child was aged between 4 and 5 was 76.2%, a difference of 10 percentage points.
2.11 Ireland: Unemployment rates by age group, 2003 and 2013
     
%
 20032013
Age groupMenWomenMenWomen
15-1915.715.843.542.4
20-248.16.429.621.9
25-345.33.918.110.9
35-443.92.913.79.5
45-543.62.712.89.1
55-592.81.812.98.4
60-641.32.011.58.2
65 and over0.01.72.52.7
Total5.04.215.911.4
Source: CSO QNHS

 

  • The male rate of unemployment rose from 5% in 2003 to 15.9% in 2013 while the female rate rose from 4.2% to 11.4% over the same time period.
  • There were increases in all age groups with the most pronounced increases in younger age groups.
  • The rate of unemployment among men aged 15-19 rose from 15.7% in 2003  to 43.5% in 2013 while the female rate rose from 15.8% to 42.4%.
  • Among men aged 20-24 the unemployment rate rose from 8.1% in 2003 to 29.6% in 2013 while the rate for women increased from 6.4% to 21.9%.
  • The unemployment rate for both men and women decreased with age in both 2003 and 2013.
2.12 Ireland: Unemployment rates and long-term unemployment rates1, 2003-2014
     
    %
 Unemployment ratesLong-term unemployment rates
YearMenWomenMenWomen
20035.04.21.90.9
20045.03.91.90.9
20055.14.32.00.9
20064.74.51.91.0
20074.94.61.81.0
20086.74.52.10.9
200915.38.34.01.5
201017.010.08.63.5
201117.710.610.84.9
201218.111.012.35.5
201315.911.410.35.3
201413.89.99.15.1
   Source: CSO QNHS
     
1 Data from the QNHS is Q2 for all years except for 2014 which is Q1.

 

  • The unemployment rate for men was relatively stable over the period 2003 to 2007 at around 5%, before rising in 2008 to 6.7% and increasing sharply to 15.3% in 2009. 
  • During 2010, 2011 and 2012 the male unemployment rate continued to increase and stood at 18.1% by 2012.
  • The rate dropped to 15.9% in 2013 and decreased again in the first quarter of 2014 to 13.8%.
  • The unemployment rate for women has followed a similar pattern, averaging around 4% between 2003 and 2008 before rising to 8.3% in 2009.
  • The female rate of unemployment continued to rise over the following four years to stand at 11.4% in 2013. However in the first quarter of 2014 there was a decrease in the rate to 9.9%.
  • The long-term unemployment rate (unemployed for one year or more) for Irish men was stable between 2003 and 2008 at about 2% but increased steadily over the following four years to reach 12.3% by 2012. There was a decrease in 2013 to 10.3% and a further drop in the first quarter of 2014 to 9.1%.
  • The female long-term unemployment rate was about 1% between 2003 and 2009 before rising steadily over the next three years to reach 5.5% in 2012. There was a small decrease in 2013 to 5.3% and a further small drop in 2014 to 5.1%.
Open in Excel:
Ireland - MenIreland - WomenEU - MenEU - Women
200453.98.810
20055.14.38.49.8
20064.74.57.79.1
20074.94.66.78
20086.74.56.77.6
200915.38.39.19
201017109.89.7
201117.710.69.79.8
201218.11110.610.6
201315.911.41110.9

 

  • The male unemployment rate in Ireland was around 5% between 2004 and 2007 and was below the EU male rate. 
  • In 2008 the male rate of unemployment rose slightly to 6.7%, climbed sharply to 15.3% in 2009 and increased again over the following 3 years to reach 18.1% in 2012.
  • In 2013 the rate of male unemployment fell to 15.9% but remained well above the EU rate of 11%.
  • The female rate of unemployment in Ireland was around 4% between 2004 and 2008 before rising to 8.3% in 2009 and was below the EU female rate.
  • In 2010 the female rate of unemployment in Ireland increased to 10% and has increased each year since then to stand at 11.4% in 2013, slightly above the EU female rate.
  • The male and female rates of unemployment in Ireland were similar between 2004 and 2007 but the male rate increased more strongly over recent years.
2.14 EU: Unemployment rates, 2013
  
% of 15-74 age group% of 55-64 age group
CountryMenWomenMenWomen
Austria4.94.93.83.0
Germany5.65.06.25.3
Malta6.56.35.7:
Netherlands7.16.36.95.5
Luxembourg5.46.44.35.3
Romania7.96.64.62.5
United Kingdom8.07.05.44.0
Denmark6.77.35.25.1
Finland8.87.58.15.9
Sweden8.27.95.84.2
Belgium8.78.25.55.3
Estonia9.18.28.24.4
Czech Republic5.98.35.46.4
France10.09.87.56.5
Hungary10.210.28.07.3
Lithuania13.110.513.98.7
EU10.810.88.26.9
Slovenia9.510.97.46.3
Poland9.711.18.36.9
Latvia12.611.111.49.9
Ireland115.911.412.38.3
Bulgaria13.911.813.311.4
Italy11.513.16.74.1
Slovakia14.014.510.611.6
Cyprus16.615.214.29.4
Portugal16.416.614.712.6
Croatia17.816.612.17.9
Spain25.827.020.119.6
Greece24.331.316.516.0
     
Norway3.63.21.31.1
Switzerland4.34.53.12.9
Iceland5.65.1::
Turkey8.010.65.72.2
Macedonia29.029.024.822.7
Source: Eurostat LFS, CSO QNHS
     
1 Unemployment rate for those aged 15 and over.

 

  • In 2013 the female unemployment rate in Ireland, at 11.4%, was higher than the EU average of 10.8% and was the ninth highest in the EU.
  • The lowest rate of unemployment among women in the EU in 2013 was in Austria at 4.9% while the highest rate was 31.3% in Greece.
  • The male rate of unemployment in Ireland was 15.9% and was the sixth highest in the EU, well above the EU average of 10.8%.
  • The lowest rate of unemployment among men in the EU was 4.9% in Austria with the highest rate in Spain at 25.8%.
  • The unemployment rate among women aged 55-64 in Ireland in 2013 was 8.3% compared to a rate of 12.3% for men. Both of these rates were above the EU averages.