26 May 2022
Go to release: Labour Force Survey Quarter 1 2022
See: Infographic
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (26 May 2022) issued results from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) for Q1 2022.
Commenting on today’s publication, Sam Scriven, Statistician, said: “The number of persons aged 15-89 years in employment increased by 275,200 or 12.3% to 2,505,800 persons in the year to Q1 2022. The unadjusted employment rate for persons aged 15-64 years was 72.8%. Employment increased in the year to Q1 2022 across most economic sectors with the largest increase in the Accommodation & Food Service (+62.2% or +62,400) sector. However, employment in the sector of 162,600 remains below the Q1 2020 level of 169,500.
The number of absences from work (e.g., temporary layoffs from work, family leave and holidays) during the reference week in Q1 2022 declined by 45.7% to 168,100, its lowest level since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This, together with an increase of 12.3% in employment, resulted in an increase of 17.6% or 12.1 million more hours worked per week to a record 80.8 million hours per week in Q1 2022. The impact on hours worked varied across the different economic sectors. The number of hours worked per week was higher than a year ago in almost all sectors in Q1 2022. The hours worked per week in the Accommodation & Food Services sector, while still below Q1 2020 levels, increased by 2.6 million hours per week (+152.9%) over the year to Q1 2022.
The number of persons aged 15-74 years who were unemployed in Q1 2022 stood at 126,700 with an associated Unemployment Rate of 4.8%.
In Q1 2022, the total number of persons in the labour force was up 9.6% or 231,400 to 2,632,500 from Q1 2021. The number of persons not in the labour force was 1,431,000 which was down 10.8% or 172,400 from a year earlier.”
The COVID-19 Adjusted Measures of Employment and Unemployment, which have been published by the CSO in parallel with standard International Labour Organisation (ILO) labour market estimates since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, do not appear in today’s results. These measures were compiled by adjusting standard ILO measures of employment and unemployment by the number of persons in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP). With the PUP scheme ending on the 25th of March of this year, the COVID-19 Adjusted Measures of Employment and Unemployment in the LFS have been discontinued with effect from Q1 2022, since the number of persons in receipt of the PUP at the end of the reference period is zero.
Commenting on the importance of sampled individuals taking part in the LFS, Sam Scriven, added: “Randomly selected households receive introductory letters by post giving them an option to ring the interviewer or the interviewer may call to their house to ask them to take part. These surveys give us a picture of the economic and social situation of the citizens of Ireland, in a way, and with a level of accuracy, that no one else can gain. If you are asked to take part in a CSO survey, please do so. It means that when CSO figures are quoted you know they’re accurate, because you told us.”
Note to Editors
The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is the official source of labour market statistics for Ireland including the official measures of employment and unemployment. These official measures are based on the International Labour Organisation (ILO) concepts and definitions. The ILO measures are the international standard, and all EU Member States are legally obliged to compile and provide this data to Eurostat on a quarterly basis.
The methodology outlined in the Information Note published alongside the Q2 2020 LFS results on 24 August 2020 still applies to the LFS results for Q4 2021. Please see Information Note
Information Note - Implications of COVID-19 on the Labour Force Survey - Quarter 2 2020 Update
For more information:
See: https://www.cso.ie/en/statistics/labourmarket/labourforcesurveylfs/
Contact: Sam Scriven, Labour Market Analysis – 021-453-5276
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