The statistics presented in this chapter show developments in the Irish labour market and are based primarily on results from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The primary classification used for LFS results is the ILO (International Labour Office) labour force classification. This distinguishes persons aged 15 years and older into three groups - Employed, Unemployed and Inactive Population (not in labour force). The rest of the chapter contains administrative data, compiled by the CSO, showing the trends in the number of persons on the Live Register.
| X-axis label | Males | Females |
|---|---|---|
| In labour force | 1270.9 | 1070.3 |
| In employment | 1206.1 | 1016.3 |
| Full-time employment | 1084.6 | 733.6 |
| Part-time employment | 121.5 | 282.7 |
| Unemployed | 64.8 | 54 |
| Not in labour force | 680.8 | 951.8 |
The total number of persons in the labour force in 2020 was 2,341,200, an annual decrease of 89,600. The number of persons in employment increased from 1,970,300 in 2014 to 2,222,500 in 2020, an increase of almost 13% in six years.
There were 1,818,300 persons in full-time employment in 2020 while the corresponding number for part-time employment was 404,200. Full-time employment accounted for just over 80% (81.8%) of total employment in 2020.
The overall unemployment rate decreased from 12.5% in 2014 to 5.4% in 2019 and stood at 5.1% in 2020. The number of persons unemployed in 2014 was 279,800 compared with 130,800 in 2019 and 118,700 in 2020.
Interactive table: StatBank
Link to release: Labour Force Survey Quarterly
The average number of persons on the Live Register decreased from 220,065 in 2018 to 191,529 in 2019. The average number of males on the Live Register stood at 106,791 in 2019, with the average number of females at 84,738.
Interactive table: StatBank LRM17
Link to release: Live Register
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