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Labour Market Churn Q1 2025

Results and Analysis

The job churn rate for Q1 2025 was 11.1%, down 0.3 percentage points on the same period in 2024

Online ISSN: 2990-8272

CSO statistical release, 04 June 2025, 11am

A CSO Frontier Series Output

This release is categorised as a CSO Frontier Series Output. Particular care must be taken when interpreting the statistics in this release as it may use new methods which are under development and/or data sources which may be incomplete, for example new administrative data sources.

The highest job churn rate was recorded in the Administrative & Support Service Activities sector (22.9%) in Q1 2025

The highest job churn rate was recorded in the Administrative & Support Service Activities sector (22.9%), followed by the Accommodation & Food Service Activities sector (17.7%).

The lowest churn rate in Q1 2025 was observed in Financial, Insurance & Real Estate Activities and Information & Communication sectors at 6.8% followed by Industry (6.9%).

The Wholesale & Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles & Motorcycles sector had the highest number of hirings (33,214) while Administrative & Support Service Activities recorded the highest job churn in the quarter at 45,120.

Accommodation & Food Service Activities had the highest number of separations (43,648) and had the highest number of job destructions (21,508). Wholesale & Retail Trade: Repair of Motor Vehicles & Motorcycles had the highest number of stayers (384,203) of all the economics sectors in Q1 2025.

The economic sector with the highest proportion of stayers in Q1 2025 was Industry (93.6%), while the lowest proportion of stayers was Administrative & Support Service Activities (83.9%).

The sector that saw the highest number of job creations in Q1 2025 was the Wholesale & Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles & Motorcycles sector (12,323), with a decrease of 1.8% (232) from a year earlier.

Two sectors saw an annual increase in the number of job creations in Q1 2025. These were seen in Information & Communication where creations were up 26.0% to 6,121 and Financial, Insurance & Real Estate Activities, where creations rose 2.2% to 5,547.

The largest year-on-year percentage decreases in job creations in Q1 2025 were in Services down 52.7% to 43 and Public Administration and Defence; Compulsory Social Security down 46.9% to 3,488. Note: Due to the relatively low size of the sector, the Services sector can experience volatile changes year on year.

The economic sector that saw the highest number of people who left their primary employment but remained in the same sector in Q1 2025 was Information & Communication, where 17.9% of separations were working in the same sector in the next quarter.

In the Financial, Insurance & Real Estate Activities sector 41.5% of primary employment separations were employed in a different economic sector in the next quarter – the highest proportion of all economic sectors in Q1 2025.

Table 2.1 Job Churn and Job Churn Rate by NACE Rev.2 Economic Sector and Quarter

Table 2.1 Job Churn and Job Churn Rate by NACE Rev.2 Economic Sector and Quarter
	Job Churn						Job Churn Rate
Economic Sector (Nace Rev.2)	Q1 2023	Q1 2024	Q4 2024	Q1 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change	Q1 2023	Q1 2024	Q4 2024	Q1 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change
Economic Sector (Nace Rev.2)	Number				Number		%				pp¹
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A)	3,272	3,348	3,128	3,310	182	-38	10.9	10.5	9.4	10.2	0.8	-0.3
Industry (B to E)	21,812	20,974	26,452	20,764	-5,688	-210	7.6	7.0	8.7	6.9	-1.8	-0.1
Construction (F)	14,496	13,862	16,666	14,512	-2,154	650	10.8	9.8	11.4	10.0	-1.4	0.2
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G)	49,428	45,076	59,704	41,782	-17,922	-3,294	12.0	10.6	14.2	9.9	-4.3	-0.7
Transportation and storage (H)	8,340	8,546	9,842	8,124	-1,718	-422	8.7	8.2	9.4	7.8	-1.6	-0.4
Accommodation and food service activities (I)	57,610	49,380	57,140	44,280	-12,860	-5,100	23.4	19.8	22.0	17.7	-4.3	-2.1
Information and communication (J)	9,920	9,948	11,008	9,372	-1,636	-576	7.0	7.2	7.9	6.8	-1.1	-0.4
Financial, insurance and real estate activities (K,L)	11,646	9,364	11,016	9,434	-1,582	70	8.6	6.6	8.0	6.8	-1.2	0.2
Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)	16,586	15,734	20,820	15,230	-5,590	-504	9.7	8.7	11.2	8.3	-2.9	-0.4
Administrative and support service activities (N)	49,074	47,174	53,186	45,120	-8,066	-2,054	25.6	23.8	26.6	22.9	-3.7	-0.9
Public administration and defence; compulsory social security (O)	15,360	13,986	14,542	18,050	3,508	4,064	10.8	9.7	10.0	12.4	2.4	2.7
Education (P)	33,164	34,306	43,800	35,508	-8,292	1,202	13.1	13.3	16.1	13.4	-2.7	0.1
Human health and social work activities (Q)	36,902	36,140	38,318	36,530	-1,788	390	10.0	9.2	9.6	9.2	-0.4	0.0
Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities (R,S)	12,074	10,986	12,452	10,984	-1,468	-2	13.2	11.1	12.1	11.1	-1.0	0.0
Services (T,U)	114	170	170	186	16	16	11.8	14.8	14.1	15.1	1.0	0.3
Not stated	128	72	86	88	2	16	7.0	4.3	5.0	5.1	0.1	0.8
All Economic Sectors	339,926	319,066	378,330	313,274	-65,056	-5,792	12.6	11.4	13.3	11.1	-2.2	-0.3
Source: CSO Labour Market Churn
¹pp refers to percentage point change

Open in Excel: Labour Market Churn Q1 2025 Table 2.1 (XLS 13KB)

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Table 2.2 Hirings and Stayers by NACE Rev.2 Economic Sector and Quarter (number)

Table 2.2 Hirings and Stayers by NACE Rev.2 Economic Sector and Quarter (number)
	Hirings						Stayers
Economic Sector (Nace Rev.2)	Q1 2023	Q1 2024	Q4 2024	Q1 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change	Q1 2023	Q1 2024	Q4 2024	Q1 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A)	5,006	4,765	3,654	4,596	942	-169	25,022	26,551	29,099	27,766	-1,333	1,215
Industry (B to E)	19,694	19,657	19,192	19,313	121	-344	268,196	275,615	281,746	283,687	1,941	8,072
Construction (F)	16,839	17,807	15,217	17,468	2,251	-339	117,153	121,046	129,094	128,539	-555	7,493
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G)	37,141	35,093	53,912	33,214	-20,698	-1,879	369,055	376,066	369,647	384,203	14,556	8,137
Transportation and storage (H)	7,597	7,917	8,361	6,808	-1,553	-1,109	88,010	92,972	96,269	96,849	580	3,877
Accommodation and food service activities (I)	40,094	37,803	41,607	32,052	-9,555	-5,751	199,988	207,129	214,399	212,359	-2,040	5,230
Information and communication (J)	10,525	9,833	11,874	10,807	-1,067	974	128,680	125,829	127,009	124,798	-2,211	-1,031
Financial, insurance and real estate activities (K,L)	10,840	10,111	10,279	10,264	-15	153	125,065	122,958	126,819	128,598	1,779	5,640
Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)	16,213	19,261	22,754	15,553	-7,201	-3,708	154,528	159,999	165,232	163,830	-1,402	3,831
Administrative and support service activities (N)	31,810	34,061	36,399	31,100	-5,299	-2,961	156,157	158,631	162,375	162,659	284	4,028
Public administration and defence; compulsory social security (O)	11,316	13,563	12,517	12,513	-4	-1,050	130,445	127,587	133,789	132,487	-1,302	4,900
Education (P)	20,518	26,781	33,424	25,392	-8,032	-1,389	223,831	231,778	230,435	239,179	8,744	7,401
Human health and social work activities (Q)	32,385	34,392	28,849	27,481	-1,368	-6,911	336,815	353,185	367,371	370,081	2,710	16,896
Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities (R,S)	11,290	13,801	12,477	10,466	-2,011	-3,335	78,898	81,125	87,898	86,893	-1,005	5,768
Services (T,U)	140	176	191	136	-55	-40	838	886	1,043	1,093	50	207
Not stated	356	283	244	330	86	47	1,499	1,183	1,458	1,438	-20	255
All Economic Sectors	271,764	285,304	310,951	257,493	-53,458	-27,811	2,404,180	2,462,540	2,523,683	2,544,459	20,776	81,919
Source: CSO Labour Market Churn

Open in Excel: Labour Market Churn Q1 2025 Table 2.2 (XLS 11KB)

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Table 2.3a Separations by NACE Rev.2 Economic Sector and Quarter (number)

Table 2.3b Breakdown of Separations of Primary Employments by NACE Rev.2 Economic Sector, Q1 2025 (number)

Table 2.4 Job Creation and Destruction by NACE Rev.2 Economic Sector and Quarter (number)

Table 2.4 Job Creation and Destruction by NACE Rev.2 Economic Sector and Quarter (number)
	Job Creation						Job Destruction
Economic Sector (Nace Rev.2)	Q1 2023	Q1 2024	Q4 2024	Q1 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change	Q1 2023	Q1 2024	Q4 2024	Q1 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A)	3,370	3,091	2,090	2,941	851	-150	3,067	3,082	3,138	3,333	195	251
Industry (B to E)	8,788	9,170	5,966	8,931	2,965	-239	7,309	7,199	10,423	6,874	-3,549	-325
Construction (F)	9,591	10,876	6,884	10,212	3,328	-664	8,921	9,124	10,719	8,515	-2,204	-609
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G)	12,427	12,555	24,060	12,323	-11,737	-232	20,836	20,873	15,915	18,492	2,577	-2,381
Transportation and storage (H)	3,427	3,644	3,440	2,746	-694	-898	3,828	3,697	3,083	3,691	608	-6
Accommodation and food service activities (I)	11,289	13,113	13,037	9,912	-3,125	-3,201	22,546	21,815	21,537	21,508	-29	-307
Information and communication (J)	5,565	4,859	6,370	6,121	-249	1,262	8,288	6,016	6,758	9,394	2,636	3,378
Financial, insurance and real estate activities (K,L)	5,017	5,429	4,771	5,547	776	118	4,812	6,026	4,552	3,743	-809	-2,283
Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)	7,920	11,394	12,344	7,938	-4,406	-3,456	7,325	8,436	8,858	16,541	7,683	8,105
Administrative and support service activities (N)	7,273	10,474	9,806	8,540	-1,266	-1,934	14,364	13,519	12,609	13,556	947	37
Public administration and defence; compulsory social security (O)	3,636	6,570	5,246	3,488	-1,758	-3,082	3,335	1,320	4,110	4,794	684	3,474
Education (P)	3,936	9,628	11,524	7,638	-3,886	-1,990	21,850	6,193	26,236	6,926	-19,310	733
Human health and social work activities (Q)	13,934	16,322	9,690	9,216	-474	-7,106	11,957	11,165	13,664	7,913	-5,751	-3,252
Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities (R,S)	5,253	8,308	6,251	4,974	-1,277	-3,334	7,268	8,915	11,502	7,990	-3,512	-925
Services (T,U)	83	91	106	43	-63	-48	63	72	44	48	4	-24
Not stated	292	247	201	286	85	39	260	331	247	220	-27	-111
All Economic Sectors	101,801	125,771	121,786	100,856	-20,930	-24,915	146,029	127,783	153,395	133,538	-19,857	5,755
Source: CSO Labour Market Churn

Open in Excel: Labour Market Churn Q1 2025 Table 2.4 (XLS 12KB)

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It should be noted that the large annual changes seen in job destructions for Professional, scientific and technical activities (M) and Public administration and defence; compulsory social security (O) are due to temporary staff hirings to fulfil roles during the 2024 General Election.

The firm size with the highest job churn rate in Q1 2025 were those with 50-249 employees

The firm size with the highest job churn rate in Q1 2025 was the 50-249 employee group, where the job churn was 13.3%, down from 13.7% in Q1 2024.

The firm size with the lowest job churn rate in Q1 2025 was the 1-9 employee group, where the job churn rate was 5.8%, down from 6.1% in Q1 2024.

In Q1 2025 all firm size groups observed a decrease in the job churn rate when compared with Q1 2024. The largest decrease was seen in firms with 10 to 49 employees, down 0.6 percentage points from a job churn rate of 11.8% to 11.2%.

Firms with 10 to 49 employees accounted for 28.6% of all job creations in Q1 2025 (28,850), up from a year ago when firms of this size made up 24.6% of job creations (30,977).

Looking at job destructions, firms with up to 49 employees accounted for 65.2% of all job destructions in Q1 2025 (87,088). This was an increase on Q1 2024, when firms of this size were made up of 63.5% of job destructions (81,202).

The group of enterprises that made up the largest number of destructions by firm size was the 1 to 9 employees group. This group made up 38.8% of destructions in Q1 2025 (51,795), down from 42.3% of all destructions 12 months ago (54,053).

Table 2.5 Job Churn and Job Churn Rate by Firm Size and Quarter

Table 2.6 Hirings and Stayers by Firm Size and Quarter (number)

Table 2.7 Separations by Firm Size and Quarter (number)

Table 2.8 Job Creation and Destruction by Firm Size and Quarter (number)

Irish-owned enterprises accounted for 79.1% of the job churn in Q1 2025

In Q1 2025 there were 2,801,952 recorded employments, Irish-owned affiliates accounted for highest proportion at 76.2% followed by Foreign-owned affiliates owned by non-EU multinationals at 18.8% and Foreign-owned affiliates owned by EU multinationals at 4.9%.

The total number of jobs created in Q1 2025 was 100,856, a decrease of 24,915 (19.8%) when compared to a year previous. Jobs created by Irish-owned enterprises accounted for 87.3% (87,980) of all jobs created in Q1 2025.

There were 133,538 job destructions in Q1 2025, an increase of 5,755 (4.5%) when compared to the previous year. The number of jobs destroyed was highest among Irish-owned enterprises which accounted for 85.6% (114,339) of the total figure.

Job churn rate for Irish-owned enterprises in Q1 2025 was 11.5%, a decline of 0.2 percentage points when compared with the previous year. All Foreign-owned enterprises saw a fall of 0.4 percentage points, from 10.2% in Q1 2024 to 9.8% in Q1 2025.

Table 2.9 Job Churn and Job Churn Rate by Nationality of Enterprise Ownership

Table 2.10 Hirings and Stayers by Nationality of Enterprise Ownership (number)

Table 2.11 Separations by Nationality of Enterprise Ownership (number)

Table 2.12 Job Creation and Destruction by Nationality of Enterprise Ownership (number)

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Table 2.3a Separations by NACE Rev.2 Economic Sector and Quarter (number)
	Separations
Economic Sector (Nace Rev.2)	Q1 2023	Q1 2024	Q4 2024	Q1 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A)	4,703	4,756	4,702	4,988	286	232
Industry (B to E)	18,215	17,686	23,649	17,256	-6,393	-430
Construction (F)	16,169	16,055	19,052	15,771	-3,281	-284
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G)	45,550	43,411	45,767	39,383	-6,384	-4,028
Transportation and storage (H)	7,998	7,970	8,004	7,753	-251	-217
Accommodation and food service activities (I)	51,351	46,505	50,107	43,648	-6,459	-2,857
Information and communication (J)	13,248	10,990	12,262	14,080	1,818	3,090
Financial, insurance and real estate activities (K,L)	10,635	10,708	10,060	8,460	-1,600	-2,248
Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)	15,618	16,303	19,268	24,156	4,888	7,853
Administrative and support service activities (N)	38,901	37,106	39,202	36,116	-3,086	-990
Public administration and defence; compulsory social security (O)	11,015	8,313	11,381	13,819	2,438	5,506
Education (P)	38,432	23,346	48,136	24,680	-23,456	1,334
Human health and social work activities (Q)	30,408	29,235	32,823	26,178	-6,645	-3,057
Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities (R,S)	13,305	14,408	17,728	13,482	-4,246	-926
Services (T,U)	120	157	129	141	12	-16
Not stated	324	367	290	264	-26	-103
All Economic Sectors	315,992	287,316	342,560	290,175	-52,385	2,859
Source: CSO Labour Market Churn

Table 2.3b Breakdown of Separations of Primary Employments¹ by NACE Rev.2 Economic Sector, Q1 2025 (number)
	Separations of Primary Employments
Economic Sector (Nace Rev.2)	Same² Economic Sector	Different³ Economic Sector	No longer employed⁴	Total
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A)	284	361	2,693	3,338
Industry (B to E)	686	2,371	7,768	10,825
Construction (F)	1,204	1,981	6,277	9,462
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G)	2,179	3,014	15,203	20,396
Transportation and storage (H)	377	674	3,479	4,530
Accommodation and food service activities (I)	2,308	1,980	15,655	19,943
Information and communication (J)	1,406	966	5,477	7,849
Financial, insurance and real estate activities (K,L)	336	2,659	3,415	6,410
Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)	940	2,173	8,693	11,806
Administrative and support service activities (N)	1,098	3,385	10,470	14,953
Public administration and defence; compulsory social security (O)	98	1,046	3,596	4,740
Education (P)	607	1,456	7,756	9,819
Human health and social work activities (Q)	1,552	1,786	9,907	13,245
Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities (R,S)	447	1,022	5,767	7,236
Services (T,U)	0	26	61	87
Not stated	8	69	100	177
All Economic Sectors	13,530	24,969	106,317	144,816
Source: CSO Labour Market Churn
^1.Any additional employments have been excluded.
^2.Employees who have changed employer but stayed in the same Economic Sector.
^3. Employees who have changed employer and Economic Sector.
^4.Employees who had an employer in the previous quarter but do not in the current quarter.

Table 2.6 Hirings and Stayers by Firm Size and Quarter (number)
	Hirings						Stayers
Firm Size	Q1 2023	Q1 2024	Q4 2024	Q1 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change	Q1 2023	Q1 2024	Q4 2024	Q1 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change
1 to 9 Employees	37,846	39,044	33,786	37,156	3,370	-1,888	274,869	276,317	289,085	282,333	-6,752	6,016
10 to 49 Employees	62,785	62,867	63,823	59,616	-4,207	-3,251	454,295	468,627	478,934	483,814	4,880	15,187
50 to 249 Employees	59,786	57,190	66,003	53,898	-12,105	-3,292	461,257	474,173	481,215	483,452	2,237	9,279
250+ Employees	111,347	126,203	147,339	106,823	-40,516	-19,380	1,213,759	1,243,423	1,274,449	1,294,860	20,411	51,437
All employees	271,764	285,304	310,951	257,493	-53,458	-27,811	2,404,180	2,462,540	2,523,683	2,544,459	20,776	81,919
Source: CSO Labour Market Churn

Table 2.7 Separations by Firm Size and Quarter (number)
	Separations
Firm Size	Q1 2023	Q1 2024	Q4 2024	Q1 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change
1 to 9 Employees	57,956	64,024	60,504	61,450	946	-2,574
10 to 49 Employees	61,984	59,039	73,555	66,059	-7,496	7,020
50 to 249 Employees	62,723	59,149	68,461	58,302	-10,159	-847
250+ Employees	133,329	105,104	140,040	104,364	-35,676	-740
All Employees	315,992	287,316	342,560	290,175	-52,385	2,859
Source: CSO Labour Market Churn

Table 2.8 Job Creation and Destruction by Firm Size and Quarter (number)
	Job Creation						Job Destruction
Firm Size	Q1 2023	Q1 2024	Q4 2024	Q1 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change	Q1 2023	Q1 2024	Q4 2024	Q1 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change
1 to 9 Employees	27,516	29,073	23,237	27,501	4,264	-1,572	47,626	54,053	49,955	51,795	1,840	-2,258
10 to 49 Employees	28,775	30,977	27,123	28,850	1,727	-2,127	27,974	27,149	36,855	35,293	-1,562	8,144
50 to 249 Employees	18,239	19,514	21,444	17,871	-3,573	-1,643	21,176	21,473	23,902	22,275	-1,627	802
250+ Employees	27,271	46,207	49,982	26,634	-23,348	-19,573	49,253	25,108	42,683	24,175	-18,508	-933
All Employees	101,801	125,771	121,786	100,856	-20,930	-24,915	146,029	127,783	153,395	133,538	-19,857	5,755
Source: CSO Labour Market Churn

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Labour Market Churn Q1 2025

Results and Analysis

The job churn rate for Q1 2025 was 11.1%, down 0.3 percentage points on the same period in 2024

A CSO Frontier Series Output

The highest job churn rate was recorded in the Administrative & Support Service Activities sector (22.9%) in Q1 2025

The firm size with the highest job churn rate in Q1 2025 were those with 50-249 employees

Irish-owned enterprises accounted for 79.1% of the job churn in Q1 2025

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Table 2.11 Separations by Nationality of Enterprise Ownership and Quarter (number)
	Separations
Foreign/Domestic	Q1 2023	Q1 2024	Q4 2024	Q1 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change
Irish-owned affiliates	252,742	220,892	282,579	238,168	-44,411	17,276
Foreign-owned affiliates owned by EU multinationals	12,019	11,311	11,851	10,929	-922	-382
Foreign-owned affiliates owned by non-EU multinationals	49,529	45,972	48,122	40,991	-7,131	-4,981
All Foreign-owned affiliates	61,548	57,283	59,973	51,920	-8,053	-5,363
Not Stated	1,702	9,141	8	87	79	-9,054
All enterprises	315,992	287,316	342,560	290,175	-52,385	2,859
Source: CSO Labour Market Churn