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Labour Market Insight Bulletin

Series 11

CSO statistical release, , 11am

Supplementary Labour Market Analysis Q1 2022

Key findings

Comparing Q4 2021 to Q1 in 2022:

  • The number of active employments decreased by 1.4%
  • The largest increases in active employments were in the Public administration & defence sector (4.1%) and the Construction sector (0.6%)
  • Average weekly earnings, (including Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) payments where applicable), rose by 4.3% across all employments
  • The sectors showing the largest percentage increase in average weekly earnings were the Administrative & support service activities sector (16.5%), the Financial, insurance & real estate activities sector (11.8%) and the Industry sector (7.4%)

Comparing Q1 2021 and Q1 2022:

  • The number of active employments increased by 15.6%
  • The number of active employments rose in all 13 economic sectors, with the largest rises in the Accommodation & food services activities sector (109.3%) and the Arts, entertainment, recreation & other service activities sector (53.3%)
  • Average weekly earnings decreased by 1.3% across all employments
  • Average weekly earnings rose in nine of the 13 economic sectors with the largest rates of increase recorded in the Administrative & support service activities sector (6.5%), the Professional, scientific & technical activities sector (5.9%) and the Industry sector (4.1%)
  • For employments that were active in both Q1 2021 and Q1 2022, average weekly earnings rose by 10.7%

 In Q1 2022:

  • The EWSS directly supported 12% of active employments 
  • The proportion of employments supported by the EWSS varied across the sectors, from 65.5% in the Accommodation & food services activities sector and 36.2% in the Arts, entertainment, recreation & other service activities sector to 0.2% in the Public administration & defence sector
  • EWSS payments accounted for 2.5% of total earnings across all sectors, down from 4% in Q4 2021
  • In the Accommodation & food services activities sector 35.9% of total earnings were EWSS payments compared with 11.8% in the Arts, entertainment, recreation & other service activities sector, 5.5% in the Transportation & storage sector and 2% in the Construction sector

Note 1: Introduction

This bulletin is part of a series of outputs designed to provide high-level supplementary labour market analysis to users alongside the standard labour market outputs and metrics. The data used is sourced from administrative datasets, namely Revenue's employee level tax data (PMOD), which includes information in relation to the EWSS, as well as data provided from Revenue in relation to the TWSS. This bulletin is specifically designed to complement the standard Earnings & Labour Costs (ELC) results for Q1 2022.

The analysis in this bulletin relates to those employees working in enterprises with three or more employees in the NACE Rev 2 (see background notes) Industrial Sectors B–S inclusive.

Please Note: The data included in this bulletin are subject to revision as more information relating to employments and earnings are lodged by employers with the Revenue Commissioners and the data is subsequently made available to the Central Statistics Office (CSO) for statistical analysis purposes.

Percentage change in employment 

The number of active employments decreased by 1.4% between Q4 2021 and Q1 2022, with decreases in eight of the 13 economic sectors. The largest decreases were in the Accommodation & food services activities sector (-5.3%) and the Transportation & storage sector (-3.9%) and the Arts, entertainment, recreation & other service activities sector (-3.8%).

The number of active employments rose by 15.6% in the period from Q1 2021 to Q1 2022.  A quarterly increase in active employments of 8% in Q2 2021, was followed by increases of 7.6%, 0.8% in Q3 and Q4, respectively, followed by a decrease of 1.4% in Q1 2022.

The number of active employments increased in all 13 economic sectors between Q1 2021 and Q1 2022. The largest increases were recorded in the Accommodation & food services activities sector (109.3%) and the Arts, entertainment, recreation & other service activities sector (53.3%). See Table 1 and Figures 1 and 2.

Note: An active employment is one that was active at any point in the quarter, not active throughout the quarter.

Change in employment Q121 - Q122
Transportation3.91219914082268
Health & social5.54678554525885
Financial & real estate6.46013289036544
Industry8.06513033683545
Public admin & defence8.59992852814593
Wholesale & retail9.2626213646974
Information and communication10.3815716608014
Professional & technical12.9508809681875
Education12.9859053126129
All sectors15.5748017880066
Admin & support service17.4149187008491
Construction17.8029891974547
Arts & entertainment53.2781975227532
Accommodation & food109.314190437205
Change in employment Q121 - Q221Change in employment Q221 - Q321Change in employment Q321 - Q421Change in employment Q421 - Q122
Industry4.328393507810583.5978437527616-0.108296152890430.0928198292857729
Construction10.67922853055798.18789553436135-2.192360928025310.586278060902168
Wholesale & retail4.176016869833895.823358924468722.88404492543115-3.66717537519325
Transportation2.698758312246223.145843361067182.0532648911703-3.87801983647429
Accommodation & food52.638305094899143.52731863344690.911469014610855-5.31961016321479
Information & communication6.522088640382995.71021298004359-0.0872531133497279-1.88869482375357
Financial & real estate2.849667774086373.78257463801472-0.0700307357117791-0.192330153786258
Professional & technical6.087799220139025.973659792702150.1635761409605420.303578567895202
Admin & support service5.5437434408690110.27589635646353.76481334020329-2.7790003498437
Public admin & defence2.022187349481830.6061298305729991.678764163153474.0591339819412
Education10.81315504156130.6444458939403931.136761331968010.169174377771508
Health & social2.181951420588994.27340722125438-0.668000183406314-0.274074565591809
Arts & entertainment35.421537748062818.2329271424902-0.512913347815591-3.77509552981137
All sectors7.977521878795997.63741060079330.842296966592682-1.38934799609781
Table 1 Percentage change in employment by sector and quarter

Note 2: Earnings

When considering the change in earnings, it should be noted that there may be a compositional effect due to the significant changes in the number of active employments in certain sectors. The composition of the labour market in Q1 2022 was very different to the composition of the labour market in previous quarters, with significant changes in the number of employments in certain sectors across the various quarters analysed in this Bulletin. The changes in average weekly earnings in any sector may be impacted to some degree by those employments that have left/joined the sector having lower/higher average earnings than those employments that remained in the sector in quarters being analysed.

Any payments related to the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) scheme are not included in this analysis. Such payments were paid by the Department of Social Protection (DSP) to a person who lost income from employment and where no attachment in the form of an employment contract was maintained between the employer and employee. Payments related to the TWSS and EWSS have been included in earnings for this analysis.

Earnings included in this analysis are gross earnings, before deductions such as income tax, and include any taxable benefit in kind.

Percentage change in earnings

Between the fourth quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022, average weekly earnings increased by 4.3% across all employments.

Earnings increased in 10 of the 13 economic sectors.  The largest rise was in the Administrative & support service activities sector (16.5%) followed by the Financial insurance & real estate activities sector (11.8%), the Industry sector (7.4%) and the Information & communication sector (4.8%).

Comparing Q1 2021 and Q1 2022 average weekly earnings decreased by 1.3% across all employments. A quarterly decrease of 4.3% in Q2 2021 was followed by a decrease of 4.4% in Q3 2021 and increases of 3.5% and 4.3% in Q4 2021 and Q1 2022, respectively.

Average weekly earnings fell in four of the 13 economic sectors between Q1 2021 and Q1 2022. The largest rates of decrease were recorded in the Arts, entertainment, recreation & other service activities sector (11.4%), the Accommodation & food services activities sector (4.1%) and the Education sector (2.6%). See Table 2 and Figures 3 and 4

Change in earnings Q121 - Q122
Admin & support service6.45684401140556
Professional & technical5.91064596821662
Industry4.08029511450669
Construction3.90765396471437
Transportation3.25286362087496
Health & social1.96140713094575
Wholesale & retail1.18121442125239
Information and communication0.873412874482615
Financial & real estate0.492996056031547
All sectors-1.32476001550493
Public admin & defence-2.24971532330039
Education-2.58376027422506
Accommodation & food-4.12730632107632
Arts & entertainment-11.4410260709196
Change in earnings Q121 - Q221Change in earnings Q221 - Q321Change in earnings Q321 - Q421Change in earnings Q421 - Q122
Industry-6.25058517311762-6.043143912913219.999043357178547.41936107299541
Construction2.998622679871451.631410705416373.17535901355857-3.79178002331909
Wholesale & retail1.45635673624289-5.797914621031473.975778031468711.81878938323468
Transportation0.0445597756284277-0.1467197652483719.67149454240135-5.7562562802048
Accommodation & food-0.66359590912638-0.400817353033645-3.748125937031490.674974039460019
Information & communication-3.71914640150249-0.7303924044240180.7128730500918894.79377667769556
Financial & real estate-11.5735074119407-8.368963395878210.94354507078911.7914929990847
Professional & technical-0.858041494997053-6.383866868268969.57679769324524.13886025355834
Admin & support service-1.77705104123028-8.187496560453471.3336729953695916.4943880040815
Public admin & defence0.503698232439809-1.605593549045630.0809153811840657-1.23244363824825
Education-4.499158404285393.68192870283413-2.42949139503430.832962421313654
Health & social-0.6842425686227951.37658080249463-0.3141677839997861.58897606646007
Arts & entertainment-12.3447061782211-5.923644849087644.576598556470462.6926666148223
All sectors-4.29919967166017-4.443491416794723.450812212484244.30339475301575
Table 2 Percentage change in earnings by sector and quarter

Percentage change in earnings for employments active in more than one quarter

An analysis of earnings for employments that were active in more than one quarter is shown below, which takes into consideration the compositional effect mentioned in Note 2 above. A matched dataset was created of all employments that were active in both quarters for each set of quarters analysed.

For employments that were active in both Q4 2021 and Q1 2022, average weekly earnings increased by 5.9%. Average weekly earnings increased in 11 of the 13 economic sectors between Q4 2021 and Q1 2022. The largest rates of increase were recorded in the Financial, insurance & real estate activities sector (22.7%) and in the Administrative & support service activities sector (17.1%). Two sectors recorded a decrease, the Construction sector (3.4%) and the Transportation & storage sector (1.4%). 

For employments that were active in both Q1 2021 and Q1 2022, average weekly earnings increased by 10.7%. Average weekly earnings rose in all 13 economic sectors between Q1 2021 and Q1 2022. The largest rates of increase were recorded in the Accommodation & food services activities sector (20.2%), the Administrative & support service activities sector (19.4%), the Professional, scientific, & technical activities sector (16.7%) and the Financial Insurance & real estate activities sector (14.7%). See Table 3 and Figures 5 and 6.

Change in earnings Q121 - Q122
Accommodation & food20.2232121473392
Admin & support service19.4342014289007
Professional & technical16.6918254630698
Financial & real estate14.6504735653147
Information and communication13.5806935976989
Industry13.1085663105367
Arts & entertainment12.5671389637091
Transportation11.1065144600587
Wholesale & retail10.9409666333145
All sectors10.7393264729359
Construction10.0294800225804
Education4.92014841103403
Public admin & defence4.29032646185932
Health & social3.82942354546962
Change in earnings Q121 - Q221Change in earnings Q221 - Q321Change in earnings Q321 - Q421Change in earnings Q421 - Q122
Industry-0.691643199634673-1.5711944315169611.431002247757510.9512747489867
Construction6.610221753989244.840515885498593.21368486977023-3.36436758255549
Wholesale & retail5.45519668608092-1.192390968141059.065530651433721.4769912457498
Transportation4.851150293421742.8449855983241811.0868113303912-1.43609382479656
Accommodation & food6.673430564362719.00573021527025-2.344383617193830.38400841662285
Information & communication0.593713983116857.686213930643865.405803222874986.40833927962026
Financial & real estate-5.64132047214474-2.0852373851556112.798772399802322.657558963784
Professional & technical5.11809555766829-2.851175127771459.275058432002456.55680475491425
Admin & support service1.57561270257418-4.039348944215995.5555555555555617.0763766535224
Public admin & defence1.94864249001154-0.8577504964067171.416224629815482.13087333367123
Education1.447960560084980.5346138834021242.012345238520011.20171156511781
Health & social0.9884527768322382.079890890969651.768154929025691.46983047354048
Arts & entertainment-0.7672379434037422.256381060821715.539421109053723.5647955122617
All sectors1.523589604274190.6364697146494126.218352701176655.86107261152482
Table 3 Percentage change in earnings by sector and quarter for employments that were active in both quarters

Impact of Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme

In the first quarter of 2022 the EWSS directly supported 12% of active employments. 

The sectors with the highest proportion of employments supported by this scheme were the Accommodation & food services activities sector (65.5%), the Arts, entertainment, recreation & other service activities sector (36.2%) and the Transportation & storage sector (21.8%).

The proportion of employments supported by the EWSS decreased between the fourth quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022 from 13.2% to 12%. Most sectors had decreases in the proportion of employments supported by the EWSS. The decreases in the proportion of employments supported by the EWSS include falls from 65.9% to 65.5% in the Accommodation & food services activities sector, from 38.9 % to 36.2% in the Arts, entertainment, recreation & other service activities sector, the Transportation & storage sector 23.3% to 21.8% and from 11.2% to 8.4% in the Construction sector.

Q1 2021Q2 2021Q3 2021Q4 2021Q1 2022
Industry14.111.56.54.43.2
Construction35.131.518.411.28.4
Wholesale & retail19.316.910.27.25.9
Transportation34.928.926.223.321.8
Accommodation & food70.174.97465.965.5
Information & communication6.35.54.43.73.3
Financial & real estate7.787.75.75.8
Professional & technical13.611.38.36.75.4
Admin & support service17.515.812.59.38
Public admin & defence0.20.30.30.20.2
Education5.85.665.45.2
Health & social7.476.86.36
Arts & entertainment40.846.845.438.936.2
All sectors16.817.215.913.212

EWSS payments accounted for 2.5% of total earnings in all sectors in Q1 2022. The sectors where EWSS payments represented the highest proportion of total earnings were the Accommodation & food services activities sector (35.9%) and the Arts, entertainment, recreation & other service activities sector (11.8%).

Q1 2021Q2 2021Q3 2021Q4 2021Q1 2022
Industry3.475407391884362.793356366666181.818399850576971.1671754407320.547216701571449
Construction12.890405249937110.4708111794525.857776246455323.899943672443832.00290681606504
Wholesale & retail7.343827354887865.838228801969243.890033649247762.764675054007411.56393902583087
Transportation12.566530239780811.412280314633510.28512134153739.092645462924125.45078047818511
Accommodation & food48.64014427422249.925112128510151.008701889682445.257562298402335.9111030485223
Information & communication1.105812560298320.9523118880377110.7559914373515990.6356583569562090.357851805094359
Financial & real estate1.443959470472831.577800716675811.665297808759511.11159344037550.723951332866754
Professional & technical3.57212225742232.8511206731142.226448326174781.644532997586930.902828951289051
Admin & support service6.225802806480555.578353994069364.957689849357763.72708426409151.90698329908452
Public admin & defence0.06510997533155170.06095052010690560.07669222246420810.0519142894573910.0406374399165327
Education2.037338115402491.939087230094781.792820226561861.932410096162991.14460532389448
Health & social2.740445251904182.642775880802122.301486098898972.396954324049371.43419663835228
Arts & entertainment17.978498429662421.449912958440823.448439454371119.789106372779111.8409384692952
All sectors4.804414392466024.667559873761684.795285196104653.980630965241242.47071346635266
Table 4 Percentage of employments supported by EWSS, by quarter

Table 5 EWSS payments as a percentage of total earnings, by quarter

Background Notes

Earnings & Labour Costs (ELC)

The ELC, which is being published today with Preliminary results for Q1 2022 and Final results for Q4 2021, is the official source of short-term earnings and labour cost estimates for Ireland. The ELC release is published based on data collected by the Earnings, Hours and Employment Costs Survey (EHECS). The EHECS collects data from enterprises with three or more employees in the NACE Rev 2 Industrial Sectors B–S inclusive.

Preliminary ELC estimates for Q1 2022 have been negatively impacted by lower than usual response rates and the difficulties faced by enterprises in accessing and sending us the required data. The sectors particularly impacted by low rates of survey response were Construction, Transportation & storage, and Accommodation & food services sectors. Caution is therefore advised in relation to the preliminary estimates published today. Please see the Technical Note – Impact of COVID-19 on the Earnings and Labour Costs release - updated Quarter 1 2022 for more information.

There are methodological differences in the calculation of weekly earnings between the ELC release and the Labour Market Insight Bulletin Series.

The ELC is based on survey data which collects aggregated information from enterprises and presents information separately in relation to both earnings (wages and salaries) and other labour costs (other costs to the employer, in addition to wages and salaries, of employing labour which includes social contributions, expenses, subsidies, benefits in kind). The analysis included in this Bulletin is based on Revenue’s employee level tax data and data provided by Revenue in relation to the TWSS. Earnings estimates provided in this Bulletin include earnings and taxable benefits in kind.

In the ELC average weekly earnings are calculated by dividing the total earnings for the quarter by the average number of persons employed during the quarter and then dividing that by 13 (the number of weeks in a quarter). Average weekly earnings in this Bulletin are calculated by summing the total payments received by an employee in a quarter and dividing by the number of insurable weeks worked by the employee in that quarter.

Labour Force Survey (LFS)

The LFS, which was published on 26 May 2022 for Q1 2022, is the official source of employment estimates for Ireland. The CSO is obliged to follow specific methodology for the LFS including how a person is classified as employed, unemployed or economically inactive (not in the labour force) using the International Labour Organisation concepts and definitions. The International Labour Organisation criteria do not fully capture the impact of COVID-19 on the labour market – see Information Note on the implications of COVID-19 on the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The Information Note highlights the challenges in the application of the ILO concepts following the introduction of the COVID-19 income support payments.

Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme

Revenue’s Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) enabled employees, whose employers were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, to receive supports directly from their employer through the payroll system. The scheme operated in two phases, a transitional phase from 26 March to 03 May and an operational phase from 04 May to 31 August 2020.

Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme

Revenue’s Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) replaced the TWSS and became operational from 01 September 2020. The EWSS is an economy-wide enterprise support that focuses primarily on business eligibility. The scheme provides a flat-rate subsidy to qualifying employers based on the numbers of eligible employees on the employer’s payroll and gross pay to employees.

COVID-19 income support schemes

The CSO has been working with, and will continue to collaborate with both the Department of Social Protection (DSP) and the Revenue Commissioners to meet user needs for availability of detailed aggregates for the recipients of the PUP, TWSS and EWSS. Tables providing breakdowns of the numbers benefitting from the PUP, EWSS, TWSS and the numbers of persons on the Live Register for each week since March 2020 by sex, age group, county and nationality grouping are available at the following link: PxStat. This link also contains tables for the corresponding numbers included on the Live Register for each week as well as a total number of persons with overlaps removed who are either on the Live Register for each week or who were benefitting from either the PUP, the TWSS or the EWSS. An overlap table excluding the Live Register is also available. For further information on updates please see Detailed COVID-19 Income Support and Live Register Tables.

The final update to the number of persons benefitting from the TWSS is included in the PxStat tables linked above. No further TWSS updates will be provided given that the TWSS scheme is now closed. 

NACE Classification

NACE Rev.2 is the latest classification system for economic activities. See NaceCoder.

For further COVID-19 related information go to the CSO COVID-19 Information Hub

Please Note: The Labour Market and Earnings Division of the CSO is compiling a list of users who have registered to be kept informed in relation to relevant announcements from the CSO relating to Labour Market and Earnings, including publication plans from the Division. If you haven't already done so you can register your email address by sending an email to labour@cso.ie asking to be included on this user list.

Further Information

Contact
E-mail: earnings@cso.ie
Morgan O' Donnell
(+353) 85 804 9155
Louise Egan
(+353) 21 4535951