Respondents to the Labour Force Survey (LFS) are asked about their participation in the labour market during a specific reference week. If they have not worked during the reference week but have a job to return to under specific criteria, they are classified as employed but absent from work for the reference week. Reasons for such absence can include holidays, sick leave, maternity leave, etc.
As of Quarter 4 2023 a review of data quality has led to a methodological adjustment in the measurement of persons absent from work for the reference week and the estimation of total hours worked. This methodological change has resulted in an upward adjustment to both the estimate of number of persons absent from work for the whole of the reference week and the estimate for the average actual hours worked per week. This adjustment has been applied retrospectively for all reference periods.
There were 2,706,400 persons aged 15-89 years in employment in Q4 2023. Of those who were in employment, an estimated 284,900 (10.5%) were absent from work during the reference week (i.e. temporarily absent from work for reasons such as holidays, sick leave or maternity leave). This compares with 249,500 (9.5%) 12 months earlier.
Overall employment was up by 89,600 (+3.4%) compared to Q4 2022, while the number of absences from work during the reference week increased by 35,400 (+14.2%). This resulted in the number of employed persons who were at work during the reference week increasing by 2.3% (+54,300) over the year. The estimated total number of hours worked per week in Q4 2023 stood at 82.5 million hours, up by 0.3 million hours or 0.4% on Q4 2022, and 3.3 million hours (+4.2%) on Q4 2021. See Table 6.1.
The rate of absences from work during the reference week varied across different industrial (NACE) sectors in the year to Q4 2023 – notable changes were seen in:
| Q4 2021 | Q4 2022 | Q4 2023 | |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 2.3 | 3.8 | 4.6 |
| Industry | 9.5 | 9.9 | 13 |
| Construction | 12.5 | 8.4 | 11.3 |
| Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles | 8.6 | 6.6 | 7.1 |
| Transportation and storage | 10.1 | 8.5 | 8.4 |
| Accommodation and food service activities | 9.7 | 7 | 7.4 |
| Information and communication | 9.8 | 12.5 | 11.8 |
| Financial, insurance and real estate activities | 14.1 | 9.6 | 10.2 |
| Professional, scientific and technical activities | 10.7 | 10.8 | 11.2 |
| Administrative and support service activities | 9.7 | 9.9 | 11.6 |
| Public administration and defence; compulsory social security | 9.9 | 11.5 | 10.1 |
| Education | 17.2 | 14.5 | 14 |
| Human health and social work activities | 12.2 | 9.9 | 11.7 |
| Other activities (Cultural & Recreation) | 9.2 | 9.7 | 11.7 |
| All Economic Sectors | 10.7 | 9.5 | 10.5 |
Notable differences in total hours worked in the year to Q4 2023 were observed in:
| Q4 2021 | Q4 2022 | Q4 2023 | |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 4.54151967602198 | 4.37569345146575 | 4.39235712750197 |
| Industry | 11.0989390677734 | 11.1953394617132 | 10.4402450423168 |
| Construction | 5.62944130305659 | 6.0197430241517 | 5.59998151259209 |
| Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles | 9.08305836975189 | 9.6642604131749 | 9.90410052946753 |
| Transportation and storage | 3.48969023444671 | 4.01623216452712 | 3.75311946584236 |
| Accommodation and food service activities | 4.1154069107873 | 4.59931343426618 | 4.94264753645077 |
| Information and communication | 5.87208780805229 | 5.63375368191357 | 5.56559279421149 |
| Financial, insurance and real estate activities | 4.35273722675833 | 4.56864214740473 | 4.41150693324841 |
| Professional, scientific and technical activities | 5.7369072586411 | 5.57599897312111 | 6.08482777570858 |
| Administrative and support service activities | 2.75181523018155 | 3.19162467850348 | 3.02935367862806 |
| Public administration and defence; compulsory social security | 4.54606462744313 | 4.56445695142918 | 4.46595105107248 |
| Education | 5.34214485400009 | 5.21243251627799 | 5.91701341490072 |
| Human health and social work activities | 9.26306055406056 | 10.1589289002879 | 10.4025295114121 |
| Other NACE activities | 3.11896903024181 | 3.1466851473616 | 3.35165298763192 |
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