Statistics in this publication are based on population estimates which have not been updated following Census 2022. See LFS Background Notes.
This bulletin is the second in 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) as well as data provided from Revenue in relation to the TWSS. This second bulletin is specifically designed to complement the standard Earnings & Labour Costs (ELC) results for Q2 2020. Further iterations of this output are likely to focus on specific aspects of the labour market.
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 for Q2 2020 are lodged by employers with the Revenue Commissioners and the data is subsequently made available to the CSO for statistical analysis purposes.
Between Q1 and Q2 2020 the number of employments fell by 13.5% with all economic sectors showing decreases.
The sectors showing the largest percentage reduction in employments from Q1 to Q2 2020 were the Accommodation and food services sector (-61.2%) and the Arts, entertainment, recreation and the other service activities sector (-39.3%).
The economic sectors with the smallest percentage decrease in employments were the Industry sector (-3.0%), the Human health & social work activities sector (-4.0%) and the Information & communication sector(-4.2%).
| Change in employment | |
| Industry | -3.01555066043221 |
| Construction | -6.89584726246193 |
| Wholesale & retail | -11.3067092827213 |
| Transportation | -8.99017763362919 |
| Accommodation & food | -61.1673811654968 |
| Information & communication | -4.15169300225734 |
| Financial & real estate | -6.82267881717412 |
| Professional & technical | -8.79211843048565 |
| Admin & support service | -17.1494455835458 |
| Public admin & defence | -5.71899584227306 |
| Education | -5.98789131718842 |
| Health & social | -3.99631479157209 |
| Arts & entertainment | -39.2799357599147 |
| All sectors | -13.5317444700185 |
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 Q2 2020 was very different to the composition of the labour market in Q1 2020, with significantly fewer employments in certain sectors in Q2 2020. The changes in average weekly earnings in any sector may be impacted to some degree by those employments that have left the sector having lower/higher average earnings than those employments that remained in the sector in both quarters.
Any payments related to the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) scheme are not included in this analysis. Such payments are paid by DEASP to a person who has lost income from employment and where no attachment in the form of an employment contract is maintained between the employer and employee. Payments related to the TWSS 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.
Average weekly earnings increased by 2.9% across all employments, between Q1 and Q2 2020.
Between Q1 and Q2 six economic sectors recorded a fall in average weekly earnings, while seven sectors recorded increases.
The sectors showing the largest quarterly percentage increases in average weekly pay were the Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities sector (14.1%) and the Accommodation and food services sector (11.6%).
The largest quarterly percentage decreases in average weekly pay were seen in the Construction sector (-6.5%) and the Financial, insurance and real estate sector (-6.3%).
| Change in earnings | |
| Industry | -5.58112656636522 |
| Construction | -6.53798767967145 |
| Wholesale & retail | 1.93660780732021 |
| Transportation | 0.575646936545571 |
| Accommodation & food | 11.6330021909421 |
| Information & communication | -4.94562475475082 |
| Financial & real estate | -6.34072940132729 |
| Professional & technical | -3.90846209853571 |
| Admin & support service | -4.2269105930953 |
| Public admin & defence | 2.57208317122724 |
| Education | 4.71009996552911 |
| Health & social | 0.913346272405513 |
| Arts & entertainment | 14.108635401436 |
| All sectors | 2.87894148535184 |
One in four of active employments in NACE sectors B-S (25.9%) received at least one payment from the TWSS in Q2 2020. The proportion of employments supported by the TWSS in Q2 2020 varied across the sectors with the Accommodation & food services sector (61.0%) and the Construction sector (54.2%) having the highest proportions and the Public Administration and Defence sector (0.3%) having the lowest proportion.
| Percentage of employments that received at least one payment under TWSS | |
| Industry | 33.059623673845 |
| Construction | 54.1970038499132 |
| Wholesale & retail | 41.8758223556911 |
| Transportation | 43.8199112238427 |
| Accommodation & food | 61.0178333131142 |
| Information & communication | 14.9172884166101 |
| Financial & real estate | 15.0875878082474 |
| Professional & technical | 32.3223155898774 |
| Admin & support service | 22.5157391438467 |
| Public admin & defence | 0.303423803340233 |
| Education | 5.5063614230739 |
| Health & social | 10.3865036647613 |
| Arts & entertainment | 43.0235082802045 |
| All sectors | 25.9209086442181 |
In terms of earnings, TWSS payments accounted for 8.5% of total earnings across all sectors (B-S) in Q2 2020. Again this varied by sector; in the Accommodation & food services sector TWSS payments represented 51.8% of total earnings, while in the Construction sector and the Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities sector the proportions were 24.2% and 24.1% respectively.
| TWSS payments as a percentage of total earnings | |
| Industry | 8.67115141874904 |
| Construction | 24.198902088949 |
| Wholesale & retail | 18.2985344351625 |
| Transportation | 14.9268075488217 |
| Accommodation & food | 51.8475385374382 |
| Information & communication | 3.08331761650029 |
| Financial & real estate | 3.33828576183415 |
| Professional & technical | 10.2191237141446 |
| Admin & support service | 10.6059200477519 |
| Public admin & defence | 0.0839622363614603 |
| Education | 1.87217636041079 |
| Health & social | 3.83050997545085 |
| Arts & entertainment | 24.110269048086 |
| All sectors | 8.47354211140628 |
Earnings & Labour Costs (ELC)
The ELC, which is being published today with Preliminary results for Q2 2020 and Final results for Q1 2020, 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 Q2 2020 have been negatively impacted due to the inability of some businesses to access the data required to respond to the survey questionnaire, submit returns or accurately record the government income support measures. The sectors particularly impacted by low rates of survey response were Construction, Transportation and storage, Accommodation and food services and Administrative and support services. Caution is therefore advised in relation to the preliminary estimates published today. Please see the Technical Note on the Impact of COVID-19 on the Earnings and Labour Costs release for more information.
Labour Force Survey (LFS)
The LFS, which was published on 25 August for Q2 2020, is the official source of employment estimates for Ireland. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) are 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 ILO concepts and definitions. The ILO 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.
COVID-19 income support schemes
The CSO publishes detailed weekly data on the COVID-19 income support schemes – see Detailed COVID-19 Income Support and Live Register Tables. The data presented in those tables should also be considered alongside the analysis presented in this bulletin and the Earnings & Labour Costs (ELC) results for Q2 2020.
Nace Classification
NACE Rev.2 is the latest classification system for economic activities. See web link to NACE coder.
http://www.cso.ie/px/u/NACECoder/NACE Items/search nace.asp
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.