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 Sligo. 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 Sligo
People at Work/Unemployed
More than 56,800 people living in the county in April 2022 were aged 15 and over and of these almost 30,400 people were at work. This was an increase of 17% (from the more than 26,000 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 2,800 people were unemployed in the county in April 2022. This was considerably lower than the 2016 figure of more than 4,200 people (a decrease of 34%). The unemployment rate was 8% compared with 14% 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 almost 11,300 retired people in Sligo, up 22% since Census 2016. There was a 10% increase in the number of people who were unable to work due to permanent sickness or disability to 2,801 people. The number of people looking after their home/family fell by 20% to almost 2,900.
The labour force participation rate was 58% in Sligo compared with 61% nationally. Among females the rate was 54% 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 Sligo were in full-time employment, with nearly 22,300 people in this category, compared with almost 4,900 who were working part-time.
Where people worked
Human Health and Social Work Activities sector accounted for the largest number of workers in the county at almost 4,600. Manufacturing was the next largest, with just over 3,600 workers followed by Wholesale and Retail Trade with almost 3,500 workers.
Sligo had the joint lowest proportion of the daytime population who were also residents, at 37%. Almost 8,600 people commuted 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 almost 30,400 people at work in Sligo in April 2022. Of these, almost 18,800 never worked from home, while more than 8,200 people worked from home at least some of the time. Of those working from home, almost 2,200 people did so for five days per week, with 1,550 doing so for one day and 1,367 for two days each week.
Travelling to Work
There were 26,181 people travelling to work in the county in April 2022. The majority of these drove to work, with 17,154 people driving to work by car in 2022. There were 372 people travelling by bus and 71 by train. Looking at active travel, 2,400 people walked to work, up from 2,092 in 2016, while 359 people cycled, an increase of 48 people since 2016.
Commuters in the county were travelling for longer in April 2022, with an average journey time of 23.4 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 7,668 Sligo commuters who had a journey time of less than 15 minutes, while 8,859 people had a journey time of 15 to 30 minutes. A further 1,498 people had a journey time of 60 minutes and over.
Travelling to School, College or Childcare
In Sligo, nearly 2,400 children aged under 5 travelled to childcare or school. Most of these (over 2,000) travelled by car, while 212 walked and 14 went by van.
Most of the 7,414 primary school aged children (5 to 12 years old) travelling to school in the county in April 2022 also travelled by car, with 4,606 doing so. Walking was the second most common means of travel at 1,154 children. A further 1,011 children used a bus while 127 children cycled.
Of the 5,243 secondary students (those aged 13-18 years) travelling to school, 2,850 were driven to school in a car, while 104 drove themselves to school. There were 1,364 students using a bus, and 13 using the train. A further 583 students walked to school while 49 cycled.
For the 2,747 third-level students commuting, walking was the most popular means of travel, at 937 people. There were 769 students who drove, while 324 were driven in a car. Another 317 students travelled by bus and 72 by train, DART or Luas.