A CSO Frontier Series Output- What is this?
This CSO Frontier Series Output entitled ‘Impact of COVID-19 income supports on Employees’ is the third instalment of the ‘Insights from Real Time Administrative Sources’ Series. The publication analysed the impact selected COVID-19 Income Support Schemes had on the earnings of Irish employees in 2021 and in comparison to 2020 and 2019.
Employee earnings data, taken from the Revenue Commissioners’ PAYE Modernisation (PMOD) dataset, were combined with data on selected COVID-19 income support payments data from both Revenue and the Department of Social Protection (DSP). These selected COVID-19 income supports include the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP), the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) and the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS). Employees were categorised as Recipients or Non-Recipients based on whether they (or their employer) received these COVID-19 income supports. Employee earnings is defined as earnings from paid employment, while employee income is defined as earnings from paid employment plus selected COVID-19 income supports.
This report updates the 2021 publication ‘Impact of selected COVID-19 Income Supports on Employees’ with data for Q3 2021 and provides more detail on employees who received income supports. The cohorts examined include.
Revisions were made to all quarters from Q1 2019 to Q3 2021 to include updated data from Revenue and the Department of Social Protection (DSP). Refinements to the data matching and processing procedures have also necessitated slight revisions. Age groups statistics have been revised to illustrate age groups based upon employees’ age in 2019. The revisions do not substantially change the trends or interpretation of the data that was presented in December 2020.
If COVID-19 income supports were not available, employees who lost their employment from the pandemic may have been eligible for Job Seekers Benefit or Assistance from the DSP. This scenario is not examined in this report.
The results presented in this publication are based on a number of data sources:
The linkage and analysis was undertaken by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) for statistical purposes in line with the Statistics Act, 1993 and the CSO Data Protocol, available here: CSO Data Protocol.
Before using personal administrative data for statistical purposes, the CSO removes all identifying personal information including the PPSN. All data sources are pseudonymised prior to linking. The Personal Public Service Number (PPSN) is a unique number that enables individuals to access social welfare benefits, personal taxation, and other public services in Ireland. The CSO converts the PPSN to a Protected Identifier Key (PIK). The PIK is an encrypted and randomised number used by the CSO to enable linking of records across data sources and over time which is internal to the CSO. Using the PIK enables the CSO to link and analyse data for statistical purposes, while protecting the security and confidentiality of the individual data. All records in the datasets are anonymised and the results are in the form of statistical aggregates which do not identify any individuals.
PAYE Payroll data
The Revenue Commissioner’s PAYE Modernisation (PMOD) employer-employee payroll returns. PMOD has been operational in the State since 1 January 2019. This data provides information in ‘real-time’ and at payslip level on employee pay, deductions, pension contributions, tax liability, amongst other topics submitted by their employer.
Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme
Revenue’s Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) enabled employees, whose employers are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, to receive supports directly from their employer through the payroll system. The scheme operated in two phases. A transitional phase from 26 March to 3 May and an operational phase from 4 May to 31 August 2020. More detailed information relating to the TWSS can be accessed here: Revenue TWSS Index
Employer Wage Subsidy Scheme
Revenue’s Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) replaced the TWSS and became operational from 1 September 2020. The EWSS is an economy-wide enterprise support that focuses primarily on business eligibility. The EWSS scheme supports employers and their employees both directly and indirectly. The scheme provides a flat-rate subsidy to qualifying employers based on the numbers of eligible employees on the employer’s payroll and gross pay to employees. More detailed information relating to the EWSS can be accessed here: Revenue EWSS Index
Pandemic Unemployment Payment
The COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment is available to employees and the self-employed who have lost their job on or after 13 March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is operated by the Department of Social Protection (DSP). Information on qualifying criteria, rates of payment and other information can be accessed here: COVID 19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment
Additional information
Additional information such as sex, age, and county have been taken from both the DSP client record system, along with the CSO’s internally held 2016 Census of population data files
Analysis Groups
This analysis is limited to people who were employees in the period Q1 2019 to Q3 2021.
Employees in this period include:
These employees are grouped into two distinct groups:
Recipients: Those in receipt of COVID-19 income supports (PUP, TWSS or EWSS)
Detailed Recipient Groups
WSS and PUP: Employees or support recipient who received at least one payment under the Wage Subsidy Schemes during a quarter and or received at least one Pandemic Unemployment Payment in the same quarter. These employees had either moved from supported employment (receiving WSS) into unemployment (receiving PUP) or from unemployment (receiving PUP) into supported employment (receiving WSS) within the quarter. These employees had also been in employment in the relevant quarter in 2019 and on supports in 2020 and or 2021.
Non-Recipients: Those not in receipt of COVID-19 income supports in a quarter.
Other Grouping Variables
Sex: Male, Female, Both Sexes
Age Group: Under 25 years, 25 years and over, All ages
NUTS3 Regions and Counties
The regional classifications in this release is based on the NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units) classification used by Eurostat. Until Q4 2017, the NUTS3 regions corresponded to the eight Regional Authorities and were amended on 21st of November 2016 under Regulation (EC) No. 2066/2016 and have come into force from Q1 2018
| Border | Cavan | Dublin | Dublin City |
| Donegal | Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown | ||
| Leitrim | Fingal | ||
| Monaghan | South Dublin | ||
| Sligo | |||
| West | Galway | Mid-East | Kildare |
| Mayo | Meath | ||
| Roscommon | Wicklow | ||
| Louth | |||
| Mid-West | Clare | South-East | Carlow |
| Limerick | Kilkenny | ||
| Tipperary | Waterford | ||
| Wexford | |||
| Midland | Laois | South-West | Cork |
| Longford | Kerry | ||
| Offaly |
Variable Definitions
Employee Earnings: Earnings from Revenue’s PAYE Modernisation (PMOD) employer-employee payroll dataset is summarised at the employee level to create gross earnings per employee.
COVID-19 Support Income: TWSS and EWSS subsidy amounts paid via the employer and PUP payments from DSP. These payments are summarised at the employee level.
Employee Income: For the purpose of this analysis employee income is defined as employee earnings plus COVID-19 support income, where applicable. For non-recipients, employee income equals employee earnings. For those without employee earnings, employee income equals income from PUP.
Weekly Earnings: Weekly earnings is calculated at the employee level by dividing the number of active payroll weeks into the gross earnings amount. Where an employee has multiple employment and has paid weeks in excess of 13 weeks in a quarter weekly earnings is calculated by dividing the 13 weeks into the gross earnings amount.
Weekly Income / Weekly Earnings and COVID-19 Support Income: Weekly income or weekly earnings and COVID-19 support income is calculated at the employee level by dividing the number of payroll weeks and support payment weeks into the total gross earnings and support income amount.
Where an employee has payroll weeks and support payment weeks in excess of 13 weeks in a quarter, weekly earnings is calculated by dividing the 13 weeks into the total gross earnings and support income amount.
Earnings statistics: Median and distributional earnings and income statistics are produced based upon the employee level weekly earnings and weekly income amounts. Statistics are presented by available categorical variable including sex, age group, region, county and income levels.
Employee Level: This analysis was undertaken at an employee level, the employment income of multiple job holders were combined into one employee record.
Revisions: The data included in this publication are subject to revision as more information relating to employments and earnings for are lodged by employers with the Revenue Commissioners and the data is subsequently made available to the CSO for statistical analysis purposes.
Refinements to the data matching and processing procedures have also necessitated slight revisions. Age groups statistics have been revised to illustrate age groups based upon employees’ age in 2019. The revisions do not substantially change the trends or interpretation of the data that was presented in December 2020.
Exclusions
The analysis undertaken in this publication excludes the following record from the administrative data sources used. Any records:
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