Back to Top

How is the CSO doing?

Your feedback can help us improve and enhance our services to the public. Tell us what matters to you in our online Customer Satisfaction Survey.

 Skip navigation

Press Statement

Census of Population 2022 Results Profile 7 - Employment, Occupations and Commuting Wicklow

CSO press statement,

Almost 69,000 people at work in Wicklow in April 2022, up 17% since 2016

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 Wicklow. A full list of county press releases is available. 

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 Wicklow

People at Work/Unemployed

Almost 123,600 people living in the county in April 2022 were aged 15 and over and of these almost 69,000 people were at work. This was an increase of 17% (from the more than 59,000 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 6,300 people were unemployed in the county in April 2022. This was considerably lower than the 2016 figure of more than 8,600 people (a decrease of 27%). 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 almost 19,800 retired people in Wicklow, up 26% 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 5,232 people.  The number of people looking after their home/family fell by 9% to almost 9,300.

The labour force participation rate was 61% in Wicklow, the same as the national figure. Among females the rate was 55% while for males it was 67%. Nationally the trend was similar at 56% for female labour force participation and 67% for males.

Most people in work in Wicklow were in full-time employment, with nearly 51,900 people in this category, compared with almost 11,100 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 8,400. Human Health and Social Work Activities was the next largest, with just almost 7,800 workers followed by Education with more than 6,500 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 69,000 people at work in Wicklow in April 2022. Of these, over 37,000 never worked from home, while more than 25,800 people worked from home at least some of the time. Of those working from home, almost 7,100 people did so for five days per week, with 4,391 doing so for three days and 4,047 for two days each week. 

Travelling to Work

There were 58,715 people travelling to work in the county in April 2022. The majority of these drove to work, with 37,311 people driving to work by car in 2022. There were 2,568 people travelling by bus, which was slightly less than those by train (2,717). Looking at active travel, 4,269 people walked to work, up from 3,812 in 2016, while 665 people cycled, an increase of 119 people since 2016. 

Commuters in the county were travelling for longer in April 2022, with an average journey time of 33.9 minutes compared with 34.5 minutes in 2016. Nationally, the average journey time increased from 28.2 minutes to 29.1 minutes between 2016 and 2022. There were 11,743 Wicklow commuters who had a journey time of less than 15 minutes, while 12,622 people had a journey time of 15 to 30 minutes. A further 10,600 people had a journey time of 60 minutes and over. 

Travelling to School, College or Childcare

In Wicklow, nearly 5,000 children aged under 5 travelled to childcare or school. Most of these (over 3,700) travelled by car, while 920 walked and 42 cycled.

Most of the 18,195 primary school aged children (5 to 12 years old) travelling to school in the county in April 2022 also travelled by car, with 10,373 doing so. Walking was the second most common means of travel at 4,817 children. A further 1,403 children used a bus while 328 children cycled.

Of the 12,604 secondary students (those aged 13-18 years) travelling to school, 5,260 were driven to school in a car, while 257 drove themselves to school. There were 2,920 students using a bus, and 450 using the train. A further 2,872 students walked to school while 346 cycled. 

For the 5,164 third-level students commuting, using a bus was the most popular means of travel, at 1,544 people. There were 1,394 students who drove, while 872 used a train, DART or Luas. Another 468 students walked while 388 were driven in a car.

Editor's Note

  • The census took place on Sunday, 03 April 2022. Most of the statistics in this publication are reported on a usually resident and present basis and, unless stated otherwise, exclude visitors and people absent abroad on the night of the census.
  • Profile 8 (The Irish Language and Education) will be published on 19 December 2023. You can view the full Census 2022 Publication Schedule on the website.
  • The Census 2022 Small Area Population Statistics (SAPS), are also available and include Census 2022 results, across all 15 themes, for a range of geographies including small area, town, local electoral area, electoral divisions, counties and provinces.
  • The results of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) provide the basis for the official series of quarterly labour force estimates. The labour force and its constituent figures shown in this report are directly based on the census. Users should be aware that information derived from identical questions in the census and LFS for the same year may show appreciable differences. The main categories affected are the constituents of the question on principal economic status and the employment estimates classified by industry and occupation. For further information, see the Background Notes of the report.
  • The labour force comprises persons aged 15 and over who are employed, looking for a first job, or unemployed. The percentage of people aged 15 and over who participate in the labour force - as opposed to having another status such as student, retired or homemaker - is known as the labour force participation rate. It is measured as the number in the labour force (at work or unemployed) expressed as a percentage of the total population aged 15 and over.
  • The unemployment rate is calculated as the number of people unemployed or looking for their first job as a proportion of all people aged 15 and over who were either at work, looking for their first job or unemployed. A person’s unemployment status is the self-declared economic status that the person recorded on their census form.
  • briefing on Profile 7 – Employment, Occupations and Commuting is available which includes a full presentation and a number of short audio files in English on the key results.
  • An infographic has been published for Census 2022 Profile 7 Employment, Occupations and Commuting. Contact pressoffice@cso.ie if you require the infographic in a particular format.
  • A Census 2022 FAQ is available.
  • Definitions – Please see Background Notes.

Contacts

Kathleen Goulding (+353) 1 895 1413
Tony Downes (+353) 1 895 1319
Email censuspublicity@cso.ie
Emailpressoffice@cso.ie

-- ENDS --