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Socio-economic aspects

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At work

There were 293,830 non-Irish nationals at work in Ireland in April 2016 accounting for 14.9 per cent of the workforce.

Polish and UK nationals dominated the non-Irish workers and accounted for 42.1 per cent (123,599) of the total.  The remaining 170,231 workers made up of 185 different nationalities. Of the 187 different nationalities working in Ireland, 12 countries had only one person working from their respective country. 

Figure 5.1 presents persons at work by sex for all other nationalities with 500 or more persons (excluding UK and Polish).

As clearly illustrated Lithuania with (21,674) persons, followed by Romania (17,134) persons were the third and fourth largest groups at work in 2016. Latvians, Italians, Spanish and French are the next largest group. Five nationalities had between 5,000 and 8,000 workers, while a further 19 had between 1,000 and 5,000 workers.

FemaleMale
Lithuanian1115110523
Romanian71689966
Latvian59944986
Italian35395006
Spanish47483583
French37784358
German37973177
Brazilian30343534
Slovak28493438
Hungarian27153374
Indian15184476
Chinese22172539
American (US)24142027
Croatian14272401
Portuguese12191950
Czech13601602
Pakistani2962562
Dutch10061645
Filipino13121124
Nigerian7721115
Bulgarian764931
South African635824
Russian682665
Australian579763
Estonian776499
Mauritian493749
Moldovan461721
Canadian706413
Swedish615493
Malaysian471593

Interactive table: StatBank Link E7009

Workers by industry

While the 293,830 non-Irish national workers in 2016 could be found in all of the main industries, certain sectors dominated. The wholesale and retail trades accounted for 45,812 persons while accommodation and food services employed 40,859 persons. There were 36,387 at work in manufacturing while 21,779 were working in the health sectorThe top 10 nationalities accounted for more than 70 per cent of all non-Irish national workers in these sectors in 2016. Polish, UK national, Lithuanian and Latvian workers accounted for two-thirds (67.1%) of all non-Irish in the wholesale and retail sector. UK, Poland and Indian nationals accounted for more than half (50.3%) of all non-Irish workers in the health sector.

The figures below show the top non-Irish nationalities involved in these four industrial sections. The main non-Irish groups such as Polish, UK and Lithuanian nationals dominate these figures.

NationalityNon-Irish workers
Polish16643
UK6836
Lithuanian4931
Latvian2339
Romanian2106
Slovak1198
Hungarian798
Brazilian759
Spanish682
Croatian673
Italian671
French656
Nationality Non-Irish workers
Polish10971
Romanian3494
UK3192
Lithuanian2669
Hungarian1744
Chinese1656
Italian1597
Latvian1536
Slovak1514
Brazilian1452
Croatian1166
Spanish831
NationalityNon-Irish workers
Polish13673
UK4534
Lithuanian3543
Latvian1626
French1241
Romanian1149
Slovak974
German922
Hungarian849
Italian761
Spanish696
Brazilian586
NationalityNon-Irish workers
UK5904
Polish3451
Indian1600
Romanian1052
Filipino928
Lithuanian825
Pakistani539
German533
Spanish477
Nigerian464
American (US)412
Latvian397

Interactive table: StatBank Link E7019

It's a Fact

  • 16,643 - The number of Polish workers in Ireland in the wholesale and retail sectors in 2016
  • 15.8% - The percentage of Polish workers in health sector
  • 1052 - The number of Romanian workers in health sector

Socio-economic group

Socio-economic group (SEG) classifies the entire population into one of ten groups based on the level of skill and educational attainment of the occupation (of those at work, unemployed or retired) while all other persons are classified to the socio-economic group of the person in the family on whom they are deemed to be dependent.

Non-manual workers (group D) accounted for the largest group of non-Irish nationals with 115,554 persons and representing 21.6 per cent of all non-Irish nationals. The smallest group was group I (farmers) representing just 0.6 per cent.

Figure 5.6 compares the distribution of Irish and non-Irish nationalities by socio-economic group. Proportionately more Irish nationals were assigned to the first three SEG categories - employers, managers, higher and lower professional groups (37.3% combined) - than were non-Irish nationals (27%). Relatively more non-Irish were assigned to non-manual, manual skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers (46.9% combined) compared with Irish nationals (39.2%).

2011 Irish2016 Irish2011 Non-Irish2016 Non-Irish
A. Employers and managers16.316.210.211.2
B. Higher professional6.67.35.86.1
C. Lower professional12.513.710.39.6
D. Non-manual20.421.221.321.6
E. Manual skilled8.37.510.19
F. Semi-skilled7.57.511.511
G. Unskilled3.135.35.3
H. Own account workers4.53.93.33.4
I. Farmers4.13.70.60.6
J. Agricultural workers0.50.50.80.8
Z. All others gainfully occupied and unknown16.315.520.921.3

Interactive table: StatBank Link E7018

Differences at nationality level

Within the top 20 nationalities, French had the highest proportion assigned to employers and managers (21%), nearly twice that of the overall non-Irish average of 11.2 per cent and higher than the Irish average of 16.2 per cent. In 2011, the highest proportion assigned to employers and managers was the Italian nationality.

Higher than average proportions assigned to higher professionals were recorded for Sudanese (51.4%), Sri Lankan (25%), Greek (22.3%) and Israeli (20.9%) nationals, reflecting the high numbers of medical doctors among these nationalities. Indians and Filipinos had the highest percentages in the lower professional group (which includes nurses and midwives) with 35.8 per cent and 25.3 per cent, respectively.

Relatively high rates of persons assigned to Own Account workers were recorded for Afghan nationals (6.7%), UK nationals (6.3%), New Zealand nationals (6.2%) and Dutch nationals (5.4%).

All others gainfully occupied and unknownAgricultural workersOwn account workers and FarmersUnskilledManual skilled and Semi-skilledLower professional and Non-manualEmployers, managers and Higher professionals
French18.20.22.70.54.543.130.7
American (US)260.25.11.16.630.730.2
German200.35.50.97.13729.2
Italian15.30.12.11.15.547.428.6
Pakistani35.80.24.41.29.821.127.6
Spanish19.20.11.71.36.546.325
UK16.90.47.72.715.33324.1
Indian22.701.10.78.244.422.8
Chinese35.20.231.75.334.320.3
Hungarian11.20.63.6726.237.314.2
Slovak18.80.91.96.927.732.411.3
Polish14.70.838.232.629.411.2
Romanian22.41.44.61323.224.610.7
Lithuanian18.32.32.69.133.424.59.8
Brazilian39.80.42.761428.58.6
Nigerian54.90.14.42.413.616.18.5
Latvian20.342.810.130.124.58.2
Non-Irish21.30.845.320.131.217.3

It's a Fact

  • 2.2% - The percentage of New Zealand nationals classified to farmers in 2016
  • 4% - The percentage of Latvian nationals classified to agricultural workers in 2016

Higher unemployment rate for non-Irish

Census 2016 revealed that the unemployment rate for non-Irish nationals was nearly 3 per cent higher than Irish (12.5%) and stood at 15.4 per cent.

Figure 5.8 presents the unemployment rate by level of education attained. The graph shows the higher the education the lower unemployment rate for both groups. For example 7.8 per cent of Irish nationals who were educated to Advanced Certificate level were unemployed compared with 12.3 per cent of non-Irish nationals with the same level of education.

Non-IrishIrish
Primary (incl. no education)36.232.2
Lower secondary26.121.6
Upper secondary18.713.9
Technical/vocational1513.2
Advanced certificate13.37.8
Higher certificate12.36.9
Ordinary bachelor degree11.45.2
Honours bachelor degree9.24.2
Postgraduate diploma7.63.1

Tenure status

Table 5.1 presents the tenure status of non-Irish nationals in 2011 and 2016.

Increases in home ownership can be seen among Polish (up 3,181), Lithuanian (up 769) and Italian nationals (up 391). A fall in home ownership can be seen among groups such as UK and African nationals though this is largely a reflection of overall falls in the numbers classified to these nationalities off-set by corresponding increases in persons with dual nationalities (who are classified as Irish).

Table 5.1 Owner occupiers and renters by nationality, 2011 - 2016
StateOwner occupiedRented
20112016% change20112016% change
All nationalities1,149,9241,147,552-0.2449,352469,6714.5
Irish1,086,3431,082,371-0.4295,664323,6729.5
Non-Irish63,58165,1812.5153,688145,999-5
    
French1,0091,28827.72,9993,1886.3
German1,7531,8344.63,0522,829-7.3
Italian8101,20148.32,4813,47540.1
Latvian45361134.96,3536,109-3.8
Lithuanian1,1751,94465.411,02210,686-3
Polish1,9325,113164.639,91337,855-5.2
Romanian59878631.45,1607,90953.3
Spanish48669643.21,8733,14367.8
UK31,54830,176-4.317,69816,456-7
Other EU282,4413,02924.113,69715,36812.2
Other European973602-38.14,2242,731-35.3
African2,103492-76.612,8316,523-49.2
Indian1,175611-484,6743,644-22
Other Asian2,5941,611-37.912,3528,987-27.2
American (US)1,4541,149-211,7711,9439.7
Brazilian91152672,4403,30535.5
Other American470314-33.21,1981,63336.3
Other nationalities1,2831,3374.21,9632,69537.3
Not stated, including no nationality11,23312,2358.97,9877,520-5.8

Table 5.2 examines rent paid by non-Irish nationals.  While US nationals paid the highest overall weekly rent (€296 per week) Brazilian nationals witnessed the highest increase in rent paid, up 32 per cent over the five years, no doubt attributed to both the higher turnover and location among persons in this group. 

Table 5.2 Average weekly rent from private landlords by nationality, 2011 - 2016
Rented from private landlord20112016Actual change% change
All nationalities171.19199.9228.7316.8
Irish167.78195.9928.2116.8
    0
Brazilian178.5234.8856.3831.6
Indian179.78233.0753.2929.6
Other European182235.5553.5529.4
American (US)235.65296.4660.8125.8
Other nationalities194.38244.0549.6725.6
French211.48262.6951.2124.2
Other Asian189.04233.744.6623.6
Italian211.26256.4745.2121.4
Spanish209.92252.5942.6720.3
Romanian180.15216.3636.2120.1
Other EU28178.67211.5632.8918.4
Other American232.87275.6842.8118.4
German202.66234.7932.1315.9
African173.64193.119.4611.2
Polish162.86180.8317.9711
Lithuanian159.08176.1317.0510.7
Latvian156.54171.2214.689.4
UK168.46182.1313.678.1
Not stated, including no nationality191.21228.236.9919.3