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 Louth. 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 Louth
People at Work/Unemployed
More than 110,600 people living in the county in April 2022 were aged 15 and over and of these over 59,100 people were at work. This was an increase of 18% (from the more than 50,300 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 7,200 people were unemployed in the county in April 2022. This was considerably lower than the 2016 figure of almost 10,100 people (a decrease of 28%). The unemployment rate was 11% compared with 17% in 2016. This was the joint highest rate in the country. Louth also had the joint highest rate of long-term unemployment, at 6%. 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 17,200 retired people in Louth, up 23% since Census 2016. There was an 18% increase in the number of people who were unable to work due to permanent sickness or disability to 5,740 people. The number of people looking after their home/family fell by 7% to almost 7,900.
The labour force participation rate was 60% in Louth compared with 61% nationally. Among females the rate was 54% 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 Louth were in full-time employment, with almost 43,400 people in this category, compared with nearly 9,200 who were working part-time.
Where people worked
The Wholesale and Retail Trade sector accounted for the largest number of workers in the county at almost 8,200. Human Health and Social Work Activities was the next largest, with just over 7,100 workers followed by Manufacturing with more than 6,300 workers.
Drogheda was one of just two areas with a large daytime working population which had a net loss of workers. Nearly 8,000 workers left the town to work elsewhere, which was higher than the number of people commuting to the town for work.
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 59,100 people at work in Louth in April 2022. Of these, just over 36,700 never worked from home while almost 15,800 people worked from home at least some of the time. Of those working from home, more than 4,400 people did so for five days per week, with 2,611 doing so for one day and 2,489 for two days each week.
Travelling to Work
There were 53,121 people travelling to work in the county in April 2022. The majority of these drove to work, with 31,863 people driving to work by car in 2022. There were 2,384 people travelling by bus and 677 by train. Looking at active travel, 5,339 people walked to work, up from 4,963 in 2016, while 1,150 people cycled, an increase of 112 people since 2016.
Commuters in the county were travelling for longer in April 2022, with an average journey time of 28.9 minutes compared with 27.7 minutes in 2016. Nationally, the average journey time increased from 28.2 minutes to 29.1 minutes between 2016 and 2022. There were 13,993 Louth commuters who had a journey time of less than 15 minutes, while 14,647 people had a journey time of 15 to 30 minutes. A further 7,418 people had a journey time of 60 minutes and over.
Travelling to School, College or Childcare
In Louth, more than 4,100 children aged under 5 travelled to childcare or school. Most of these (over 2,900) travelled by car, while 862 walked and 63 went by bus.
Most of the 16,280 primary school aged children (5 to 12 years old) travelling to school in the county in April 2022 also travelled by car, with 8,843 doing so. Walking was the second most common means of travel at 4,266 children. A further 1,250 children used a bus while 263 children cycled.
Of the 11,646 secondary students (those aged 13-18 years) travelling to school, 4,592 were driven to school in a car, while 131 drove themselves to school. There were 3,454 students using a bus, and 57 using the train. A further 2,421 students walked to school while 236 cycled.
For the 5,177 third-level students commuting, using the bus was the most popular means of travel, at 1,787 people. There were 1,069 students who drove, while 876 walked. Another 206 students travelled by train, DART or Luas while 108 cycled.