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 wexford. 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 Wexford
People at Work/Unemployed
More than 131,400 people living in the county in April 2022 were aged 15 and over and of these almost 69,500 people were at work. This was an increase of 20% (from the almost 57,800 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 7,600 people were unemployed in the county in April 2022. This was considerably lower than the 2016 figure of almost 11,500 people (a decrease of 34%). The unemployment rate was 10% compared with 17% 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 23,300 retired people in Wexford, up 25% 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 7,310 people. The number of people looking after their home/family fell by 11% to just over 10,300.
The labour force participation rate was 59% in Wexford compared with 61% nationally. Among females the rate was 53% while for males it was 65%. Nationally the trend was similar at 56% for female labour force participation and 67% for males.
Most people in work in Wexford were in full-time employment, with nearly 51,400 people in this category, compared with over 11,500 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 more than 9,600. Manufacturing was the next largest, with just over 7,500 workers followed by Human Health and Social Work Activities with more than 7,300 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 69,500 people at work in Wexford in April 2022. Of these, over almost 44,700 never worked from home, while more than 17,900 people worked from home at least some of the time. Of those working from home, more than 4,200 people did so for five days per week, with 2,825 doing so for one day and 2,704 for two days each week.
Travelling to Work
There were 61,703 people travelling to work in the county in April 2022. The majority of these drove to work, with 41,118 people driving to work by car in 2022. There were 948 people travelling by bus and 136 by train. Looking at active travel, 4,864 people walked to work, up from 4,232 in 2016, while 525 people cycled, an increase of 88 people since 2016.
Commuters in the county were travelling for longer in April 2022, with an average journey time of 28.5 minutes which was the same as in 2016. Nationally, the average journey time increased from 28.2 minutes to 29.1 minutes between 2016 and 2022. There were 17,410 Wexford commuters who had a journey time of less than 15 minutes, while 17,062 people had a journey time of 15 to 30 minutes. A further 7,633 people had a journey time of 60 minutes and over.
Travelling to School, College or Childcare
In Wexford, nearly 4,990 children aged under 5 travelled to childcare or school. Most of these (almost 4,200) travelled by car, while 511 walked and 57 went by bus.
Most of the 18,073 primary school aged children (5 to 12 years old) travelling to school in the county in April 2022 also travelled by car, with 11,828 doing so. Walking was the second most common means of travel at 2,586 children. A further 1,987 children used the bus while 136 children cycled.
Of the 13,045 secondary students (those aged 13-18 years) travelling to school, 6,041 were driven to school in a car, while 333 drove themselves to school. There were 4,237 students using a bus, and 22 using the train. A further 1,706 students walked to school while 61 cycled.
For the 4,520 third-level students commuting, driving a car was the most popular means of travel, at 1,550 people. There were 971 students who used the bus, while 772 walked. Another 502 students were passengers in a car, while 162 used the train, DART or Luas.