Your feedback can help us improve and enhance our services to the public. Tell us what matters to you in our online Customer Satisfaction Survey.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (05 December 2023) released Census 2022 Profile 7 – Employment, Occupations and Commuting. This press release highlights some of the main results for Donegal. A full list of county press releases is available.
| Kathleen Goulding | (+353) 1 895 1413 |
|---|---|
| Tony Downes | (+353) 1 895 1319 |
| censuspublicity@cso.ie | |
| pressoffice@cso.ie |
-- ENDS --
Statistician's Comment
Commenting on the results, Dr. Tracy Clegg, Statistician in the Census Division, said: “Profile 7 covers the topics of Employment, Unemployment and Commuting providing statistics, analysis and data tables. The report looks at people at work or unemployed, occupations and industrial sectors as well as the commuting patterns of workers, students and children in school or childcare. New for Census 2022 are the additional topics of commuting for childcare and time leaving workplace, school, college or childcare giving more rounded information on travelling patterns as well as information on working from home.”
Some highlights for Donegal
People at Work/Unemployed
Almost 133,000 people living in the county in April 2022 were aged 15 and over and of these more than 67,900 people were at work. This was an increase of 16% (from the more than 58,000 people recorded as working in Census 2016). Nationally there were 2.3 million people at work in April 2022, which was up by 16%.
Almost 8,100 people were unemployed in the county in April 2022. This was considerably lower than the 2016 figure of more than 12,800 people (a decrease of 37%). The unemployment rate was 11% compared with 18% in 2016. This was one of the highest rates in the country in April 2022. Donegal also had one of the highest long-term unemployment rates, at 6%. Among towns nationally with a population of at least 1,500 people, Lifford had one of the highest rates of unemployment at 22%, of which 12% was long-term unemployment, also among the highest rates in the country. There were almost 211,000 people unemployed nationally compared with over 297,000 in Census 2016. The unemployment rate was 8% in 2022 compared with 13% in 2016.
There were more than 25,900 retired people in Donegal, up 16% since Census 2016. There was a 17% increase in the number of people who were unable to work due to permanent sickness or disability to 7,145 people. The number of people looking after their home/family fell by 11% to just over 9,400.
The labour force participation rate was 57% in Donegal compared with 61% nationally. Among females the rate was 52% while for males it was 63%. Nationally the trend was similar at 56% for female labour force participation and 67% for males.
Most people in work in Donegal were in full-time employment, with nearly 48,000 people in this category, compared with over 13,700 who were working part-time.
Where people worked
The Human Health and Social Work Activities sector accounted for the largest number of workers in the county at almost 8,500. Wholesale and Retail Trade was the next largest, with just over 8,300 workers followed by Education with more than 7,600 workers.
Working From Home
A new question was included in Census 2022 asking people whether they ever worked from home and if so, for how many days per week. There were more than 67,900 people at work in Donegal in April 2022. Of these, over 45,000 never worked from home, while more than 15,300 people worked from home at least some of the time. Of those working from home, more than 4,300 people did so for five days per week, with 2,921 doing so for one day and 2,182 for two days each week.
Travelling to Work
There were 59,370 people travelling to work in the county in April 2022. The majority of these drove to work, with 38,995 people driving to work by car in 2022. There were 759 people travelling by bus, compared to 42 people travelling by train. Looking at active travel, 3,596 people walked to work, down from 3,646 in 2016, while 299 people cycled, an increase of 24 people since 2016. Commuters in Donegal were among the least likely to cycle to work at just 0.5%.
Commuters in the county were travelling for longer in April 2022, with an average journey time of 23.6 minutes compared with 22.1 minutes in 2016. Nationally, the average journey time increased from 28.2 minutes to 29.1 minutes between 2016 and 2022. There were 20,458 Donegal commuters who had a journey time of less than 15 minutes, while 16,085 people had a journey time of 15 to 30 minutes. A further 4,313 people had a journey time of 60 minutes and over.
Travelling to School, College or Childcare
In Donegal, nearly 5,600 children aged under 5 travelled to childcare or school. Most of these (4,812) travelled by car, while 290 walked and 102 went by bus.
Most of the 18,842 primary school aged children (5 to 12 years old) travelling to school in the county in April 2022 also travelled by car, with 11,826 doing so. Travelling by bus was the second most common means of travel at 4,058 children. A further 1,600 children walked while 82 children cycled.
Of the 13,659 secondary students (those aged 13-18 years) travelling to school, 5,812 were driven to school in a car, while 274 drove themselves to school. There were 5,790 students using a bus, and 7 using the train. A further 1,094 students walked to school while 18 cycled.
For the 5,037 third-level students commuting, driving a car was the most popular means of travel, at 1,689 people. There were 993 who used a bus, 66 who travelled by train, DART or Luas while 49 cycled.