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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 Kilkenny. 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 |
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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 to 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 Kilkenny
People at Work/Unemployed
More than 83,000 people living in the county in April 2022 were aged 15 and over and of these almost 46,200 people were at work. This was an increase of 12% (from the nearly 41,400 people recorded as working in Census 2016). Nationally there were 2.3 million people at work in April 2022, which was up by 16%.
More than 4,000 people were unemployed in the county in April 2022. This was considerably lower than the 2016 figure of more than 6,000 people (a decrease of 34%). The unemployment rate was 8% compared with 13% in 2016. Nationally there were almost 211,000 people unemployed compared with over 297,000 in Census 2016. The unemployment rate was 8% in 2022 compared with 13% in 2016.
There were more than 14,000 retired people in Kilkenny, up 19% since Census 2016. There was a 24% increase in the number of people who were unable to work due to permanent sickness or disability to 4,068 people. The number of people looking after their home/family fell by 13% to almost 5,700.
The labour force participation rate was 60% in Kilkenny compared with 61% nationally. Among females the rate was 55% while for males it was 66%. Nationally the trend was similar at 56% for female labour force participation and 67% for males.
Most people in work in Kilkenny were in full-time employment, with nearly 36,200 people in this category, compared with over 7,200 who were working part-time.
Where people worked
Human Health and Social Work Activities accounted for the largest number of workers in the county with more than 6,300. The Wholesale and Retail Trade sector was the next largest, with almost 5,800 workers followed by Manufacturing with just over 4,700 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 almost 46,200 people at work in Kilkenny in April 2022. Of these, more than 29,100 never worked from home while just over 12,900 people worked from home at least some of the time. Of those working from home, almost 3,100 people did so for five days per week, with 2,226 doing so for one day and 1,891 for two days each week.
Travelling to Work
There were 40,560 people travelling to work in the county in April 2022. The majority of these drove to work, with 27,846 people driving to work by car in 2022. There were 498 people travelling by bus and 164 by train. Looking at active travel, 3,537 people walked to work, up from 3,185 in 2016, while 565 people cycled, an increase of 6 people since 2016. Kilkenny was among the top 10 towns with the highest percentage of work commuters cycling at 3.6%.
Commuters in the county were travelling for longer in April 2022, with an average journey time of 27 minutes compared with 25.6 minutes in 2016. Nationally, the average journey time increased from 28.2 minutes to 29.1 minutes between 2016 and 2022. There were 10,522 Kilkenny commuters who had a journey time of less than 15 minutes, while 12,938 people had a journey time of 15 to 30 minutes. A further 3,748 people had a journey time of 60 minutes and over.
Travelling to School, College or Childcare
In Kilkenny, nearly 3,500 children aged under 5 travelled to childcare or school. Most of these (over 2,900) travelled by car, while 353 walked and 34 went by bus.
Most of the 11,991 primary school aged children (5 to 12 years old) travelling to school in the county in April 2022 also travelled by car, with 7,330 doing so. Walking was the second most common means of travel at 1,886 children. A further 1,793 children used a bus while 116 children cycled.
Of the 8,243 secondary students (those aged 13-18 years) travelling to school, 3,941 were driven to school in a car, while 221 drove themselves to school. There were 2,450 students using a bus, and 17 using the train. A further 1,181 students walked to school while 67 cycled.
For the 3,232 third-level students commuting, driving was the most popular means of travel, at 1,198 people. There were 620 students who walked, while 519 used a bus. Another 155 students travelled by train, DART or Luas while 43 cycled.