Press Statement Census 2022 Results Profile 7 - Employment, Occupations and Commuting Meath

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 Meath

People at Work/Unemployed

Almost 170,600 people living in the county in April 2022 were aged 15 and over and of these more than 101,200 people were at work. This was an increase of 22% (from the almost 83,300 people recorded as working in Census 2016). It was the joint second highest rate of increase in the country overall. Nationally there were 2.3 million people at work in April 2022, which was up by 16%.

Just over 8,100 people were unemployed in the county in April 2022. This was considerably lower than the 2016 figure of more than 10,500 people (a decrease of 23%). The unemployment rate was 7% compared with 11% in 2016. Among towns with a population of 1,500 and over, Dunboyne had one of the lowest rates of long-term unemployment, at less than 2%. 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 22,400 retired people in Meath, up 28% since Census 2016. There was a 23% increase in the number of people who were unable to work due to permanent sickness or disability to 6,325 people. The number of people looking after their home/family fell by 8% to just over 12,200.

The labour force participation rate was 64% in Meath compared with 61% nationally. Among females the rate was 58% while for males it was 71%. This was the joint highest rate in the country for males. Nationally the trend in labour force participation was similar at 56% for females and 67% for males.

Most people in work in Meath were in full-time employment, with more than 79,400 people in this category, compared with over 13,700 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 13,200. Human Health and Social Work Activities was the next largest, with just over 10,600 workers followed by Manufacturing with more than 9,300 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 101,200 people at work in Meath in April 2022. Of these, over 60,500 never worked from home while more than 32,500 people worked from home at least some of the time. Of those working from home, almost 8,500 people did so for five days per week, with 5,484 doing so for two days and 5,365 for three days each week. 

Travelling to Work

There were 89,635 people travelling to work in the county in April 2022. The majority of these drove to work, with 60,834 people driving to work by car in 2022. There were 4,959 people travelling by bus, compared with 1,241 by train. Looking at active travel, 5,023 people walked to work, up from 4,281 in 2016, while 634 people cycled, an increase of 75 people since 2016. 

Commuters in the county were travelling for longer in April 2022, with an average journey time of 35.2 minutes compared with 34.6 minutes in 2016. This meant that Meath commuters had the longest average journey time. Nationally, the average journey time increased from 28.2 minutes to 29.1 minutes between 2016 and 2022.

There were 14,994 Meath commuters who had a journey time of less than 15 minutes, while 20,373 people had a journey time of 15 to 30 minutes. A further 17,044 people had a journey time of 60 minutes and over, a rate of 19% - the highest in the country. This included more than 29% of all work commuters in Ballivor and more than 27% of all work commuters in Laytown-Bettystown-Mornington-Donacarney.

Travelling to School, College or Childcare

In Meath, nearly 7,600 children aged under 5 travelled to childcare or school. Most of these (over 5,600) travelled by car, while 1,340 walked and 82 went by bus.

Most of the 28,393 primary school aged children (5 to 12 years old) travelling to school in the county in April 2022 also travelled by car, with 14,739 doing so. Walking was the second most common means of travel at 7,418 children. A further 3,399 children used a bus while 783 children cycled. Among towns with a population of 1,500 and over, Enfield and Dunboyne had amongst the highest rates of primary school children walking or cycling to schoool, at 64% and 62% respectively. They also had the lowest proportions travelling by car, at 25% and 29% respectively. Duleek had the highest rate of children using public transport to go to school at 34%. 

Of the 19,166 secondary students (those aged 13-18 years) travelling to school, 6,612 were driven to school in a car, while 234 drove themselves to school. There were 5,602 students using a bus, and 188 using the train. A further 5,356 students walked to school while 445 cycled. Dunboyne had the highest proportion of students walking or cycling, at 77%. Ballivor students were among the most likely to use the bus, at 81%.   

For the 7,377 third-level students commuting, using a bus was the most popular means of travel, at 3,123 people. Almost 2,000 students drove, while 546 walked. Another 431 students travelled by train, DART or Luas while 60 cycled.