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Quarterly National Household Survey, Quarter 4, 2007


Employment grows by 3.2%


There were 2,138,900 persons in employment in the fourth quarter of 2007, representing an increase of 66,800 or 3.2% in the year. This compares to an annual growth rate of 3.3% in the previous quarter and to a rate of 4.4% in the fourth quarter of 2006. The increase of 45,800 (+5.2%) in female employment represented almost 69% of the total increase in employment, with male employment increasing by 21,000 (+1.8%).


Employment in the construction sector declines over the year


Employment fell by 5,600 (-2.0%) in the Construction sector over the year compared with an annual increase of 30,300 (+11.9%) in the same quarter of 2006. All of the decrease in construction employment was attributable to males (-5,900). The number of employees in the Construction sector decreased over the year by 15,200 and this was partially offset by an increase in self employed persons (+9,500). The only other sector to show a decline was Other production industries where employment decreased by 4,200 in the year.

 

Main Results Q4 2007
Persons
Change in Quarter
Change in Year
Employment
2,138,900
-7,100
+66,800
Unemployment
101,000
-6,300
+10,700
Labour Force
2,239,900
-13,400
+77,500


Increase in self employed accounts for almost 60% of the annual increase in employment


The number of self employed persons increased by 39,100 to 361,600 in the year representing almost 60% of the annual increase in employment. Self employed males dominated the increase rising by 28,300 in the year while self employed females increased by 10,900. Sectors, which had the largest increases in the numbers of self employed, were Construction, Agriculture and Financial and other business services. There were 1,761,000 employees in the fourth quarter of 2007, an annual increase of 23,300. This comprised an increase of 33,000 females and a decrease of 9,800 males.


For further information contact


Tara Galvin on 021 453 5093 or Noel Ryan on 021 453 5491
Fax 021 453 5492
E-mail labour@cso.ie


5 March 2008


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