Overall Pension Coverage Pension Coverage 2021

Two thirds of workers have some form of pension coverage

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Of persons in employment in Quarter 3 2021, two-thirds (65.7%) had pension coverage, an increase of one percentage point on the same period in 2020. Supplementary pension cover includes occupational pension provision from current and previous employments, as well as personal pension coverage, including where payments have been deferred for a while or are currently being drawn down. The State Pension is excluded for the purposes of this survey. See Table 2.1.

Table 2.1 Pension coverage in the State for persons in employment (ILO) aged 20 to 69 years Q3 2019 - Q3 2021

Supplementary pension coverage of females increased by nearly two percentage points - 63.7% of females in employment in 2021 versus 61.9% in 2020. Pension coverage of males increased marginally, from 67.1% of males in employment in 2020 to 67.5% in 2021. See Table 2.1.

Pension coverage increases with age

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Analysis of the data by age group shows that supplementary pension coverage increases with age. Those in employment aged between 45 and 54 years have the highest level of supplementary pension coverage – 76.7% of this age group, compared with 73.6% of persons aged 55 to 69, and just over seven in ten (70.8%) workers in the 35 to 44 years age group. There has been only a marginal difference in supplementary pension coverage for these age groups since 2020. See Table 2.1.

Pension coverage in 2021 has followed the same trend as in 2020 where pension coverage was lowest among young workers. Over one quarter (25.2%) of younger persons aged 20 to 24 years had supplementary pension coverage, compared with 24.4% in 2020. See Table 2.1.

Of those in employment who are self-employed and/or assisting relative in Quarter 3 2021, over half (54.6%) had supplementary pension coverage, compared with 55.2% in 2020. This pension cover includes occupational pension coverage from previous employment and also personal pensions (including personal pensions where payments have been deferred for a period of time and pensions currently in draw-down mode). More than two thirds (67.4%) of employees aged 20 to 69 years had supplementary pension coverage in Quarter 3 2021. See Table 2.1.

Pension cover is greatest for full-time workers

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Pension coverage increased for both full-time and part-time workers. Over seven in every ten (71%) full-time persons in employment have pension coverage, compared with just over four in ten (42.1%) part-time workers. However, pension cover for those in part-time employment has increased by two percentage points since 2020 – 42.1% compared with 40.1% in 2020. These results represent persons in employment and do not cover persons who are not in employment or may have been laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. See Table 2.1.

Over 8 in 10 professionals have pension coverage

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The NACE economic sector with the highest pension coverage in Quarter 3 2021 was Public administration and defence; compulsory social security (95.4%). By comparison, just less than one fifth (19.9%) of persons working in the Accommodation and food service activities sector had pension coverage in Quarter 3 2021. See Table 2.2.

Analysis of pension coverage by broad occupational groups shows that workers whose occupation was classified as Professionals had the highest pension coverage rate (80.7%), followed by Managers, directors and senior officials (75.4%), and Associate professional and technical (73.2%). Just over four in ten (40.2%) workers whose broad occupational group was Sales and customer service, had pension coverage. See Table 2.2 and Figure 2.1.

Table 2.2 Pension coverage for persons in employment (ILO) aged 20 to 69 years by NACE economic sector and broad occupational group Q3 2019 - Q3 2021

Table 2.2 Pension coverage for persons in employment (ILO) aged 20 to 69 years by NACE economic sector and broad occupational group^{1 2}, Q3 2019 to Q3 2021
% of persons in employment aged 20 to 69
		Q3 2019³	Q3 2019⁴	Q3 2020³	Q3 2020⁴	Q3 2021³	Q3 2021⁴
State		50.4	59.8	55.0	64.7	56.4	65.7

NACE economic sector
A	Agriculture, forestry and fishing	28.5	40.7	31.4	48.8	33.1	54.0
B-E	Industry	57.0	65.2	64.6	75.1	67.7	75.2
F	Construction	39.1	52.4	44.6	61.8	49.0	60.2
G	Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles	30.2	39.3	33.2	41.7	31.0	41.2
H	Transportation and storage	54.3	63.5	54.5	67.0	47.3	59.6
I	Accommodation and food service activities	11.2	17.7	15.0	21.1	14.6	19.9
J	Information and communication	55.6	67.2	62.6	73.5	64.7	71.9
K-L	Financial, insurance and real estate activities	77.2	85.7	81.3	90.1	74.9	83.1
M	Professional, scientific and technical activities	48.1	64.1	46.1	62.5	49.7	67.9
N	Administrative and support service activities	30.6	45.3	35.8	49.7	29.3	47.7
O	Public administration and defence; compulsory social security	88.9	93.0	93.0	95.8	92.5	95.4
P	Education	77.1	83.8	80.8	86.2	79.6	84.9
Q	Human health and social work activities	59.5	66.4	61.0	68.7	63.9	71.7
R-U	Other NACE activities	23.7	36.4	25.8	35.0	29.6	38.9

Broad occupational group
1.	Managers, directors and senior officials	58.1	71.7	55.0	69.2	61.6	75.4
2.	Professionals	76.2	84.0	77.6	86.4	72.9	80.7
3.	Associate professional and technical	59.5	69.3	66.7	75.9	62.7	73.2
4.	Administrative and secretarial	58.0	65.4	57.3	67.9	56.8	66.7
5.	Skilled trades	33.6	45.3	40.6	54.0	36.6	42.9
6.	Caring, leisure and other services	34.7	43.0	41.0	46.3	28.8	50.0
7.	Sales and customer service	24.0	31.2	28.6	34.0	31.3	40.2
8.	Process, plant and machine operatives	43.9	54.4	41.9	55.8	40.4	53.1
9.	Elementary	21.6	27.5	25.9	31.9	29.5	34.8
	Other/not stated	*	*	*	*	89.8	92.4
¹ Please note data may not add to 100% due to rounding issues.
² The compositional effect on survey results due to changes in employment in certain sectors as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic is detailed in the Background Notes.
³Includes only occupational pensions from current employment and personal pensions in current contribution.
⁴Includes occupational pensions from current/previous employments and personal pensions, including deferred pensions and pensions in draw-down mode.
* Sample occurrence too small for estimation.

Open in Excel: Pension Coverage 2021 Table 2.2 (XLS 13KB)

	Managers, directors and senior officials	Professionals	Associate professional and technical	Administrative and secretarial	Skilled trades	Caring, leisure and other services	Sales and customer service	Process, plant and machine operatives	Elementary
Pension Coverage 2021	75.4	80.7	73.2	66.7	42.9	50	40.2	53.1	34.8

Table 2.3 Pension coverage in the State for persons in current employment (ILO) or had previous employment aged 20 to 69 years, Q3 2021

Table 2.1 Pension coverage in the State for persons in employment (ILO) aged 20 to 69 years^{1 2}, Q3 2019 to Q3 2021
% of persons in employment aged 20 to 69
	Q3 2019³	Q3 2019⁴	Q3 2020³	Q3 2020⁴	Q3 2021³	Q3 2021⁴
State	50.4	59.8	55.0	64.7	56.4	65.7

Sex
Male	50.1	60.7	55.8	67.1	57.1	67.5
Female	50.8	58.7	53.9	61.9	55.6	63.7

Age group
20-24	16.6	19.4	21.9	24.4	22.3	25.2
25-34	39.3	44.8	44.9	49.9	53.0	57.4
35-44	59.5	67.2	62.4	70.8	62.0	70.8
45-54	60.2	71.8	66.2	76.8	66.6	76.7
55-69	53.3	69.4	53.9	72.7	55.4	73.6

Nationality
Irish nationals	53.3	63.0	57.1	67.2	59.2	69.0
Non-Irish nationals	33.0	40.1	41.0	47.2	37.3	43.4

ILO employment status
Self employed and/or assisting relative	30.1	51.0	27.6	55.2	30.1	54.6
Employee	54.1	61.4	59.7	66.3	60.4	67.4

Hours of work
Full-time	57.0	65.3	61.7	70.3	63.0	71.0
Part-time	24.5	38.1	26.2	40.1	27.2	42.1
¹ Please note data may not add to 100% due to rounding issues.
² The mode effect due to change in data collection mode may cause some variation in survey results and is detailed in the Background Notes.
³Includes only occupational pensions from current employment and personal pensions in current contribution.
⁴Includes occupational pensions from current/previous employments and personal pensions, including deferred pensions and pensions in draw-down mode.

Table 2.3 Pension coverage in the State for persons¹ in current employment (ILO) or had previous employment aged 20 to 69 years², Q3 2021
% of persons in current employment/had previous employments aged 20 to 69
	Q3 2021³	Q3 2021⁴
State	42.6	51.5

Sex
Male	46.4	56.9
Female	38.9	46.3

Age group
20-24	17.1	19.3
25-34	42.9	46.6
35-44	52.2	60.0
45-54	54.0	63.4
55-69	31.9	47.7
¹ All persons who are in employment or are currently unemployed but have had previous employment.
² Please note data may not add to 100% due to rounding issues.
³Includes only occupational pensions from current employment and personal pensions in current contribution.
⁴Includes occupational pension coverage from current/previous employments, and personal pensions, including deferred pensions and pensions in draw-down mode.

Pension Coverage 2021