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Labour Market Churn Q4 2025

Results and Analysis

The job churn rate for Q4 2025 was 12.9%, down 0.4 percentage points on the same period in 2024

Online ISSN: 2990-8272

CSO statistical release, 26 February 2026, 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 (26.1%) in Q4 2025

The lowest churn rate in Q4 2025 was observed in Services at 4.1% followed by Industry (8.0%).

Wholesale & Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles & Motorcycles recorded the highest job churn in the quarter at 58,208.

Wholesale & Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles & Motorcycles sector had the highest number of hirings (53,103).

The sector that saw the highest number of job creations in Q4 2025 was the Wholesale & Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles & Motorcycles sector (23,999), a decrease of 0.3% (61) from Q4 2024.

Accommodation & Food Service Activities had the highest number of separations (47,338) and Education had the highest number of job destructions (24,787).

Human Health & Social Work Activities had the highest number of stayers (381,182) of all the economics sectors in Q4 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)	Q4 2023	Q4 2024	Q3 2025	Q4 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change	Q4 2023	Q4 2024	Q3 2025	Q4 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change
Economic Sector (Nace Rev.2)	Number				Number		%				pp¹
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A)	3,160	3,128	3,064	2,890	-174	-238	9.9	9.4	8.9	8.5	-0.4	-0.9
Industry (B to E)	25,766	26,452	23,298	25,006	1,708	-1,446	8.8	8.7	7.5	8.0	0.5	-0.7
Construction (F)	15,918	16,666	17,446	16,644	-802	-22	11.5	11.4	11.3	10.8	-0.5	-0.6
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G)	65,672	59,704	53,866	58,208	4,342	-1,496	15.6	14.2	12.9	13.7	0.8	-0.5
Transportation and storage (H)	9,434	9,842	9,988	9,766	-222	-76	9.3	9.4	9.4	9.0	-0.4	-0.4
Accommodation and food service activities (I)	63,132	57,140	57,018	54,162	-2,856	-2,978	24.5	22.0	21.8	20.7	-1.1	-1.3
Information and communication (J)	10,064	11,008	10,680	11,534	854	526	7.3	7.9	7.6	8.2	0.6	0.3
Financial, insurance and real estate activities (K,L)	12,646	11,016	11,044	11,582	538	566	9.1	8.0	7.8	8.1	0.3	0.1
Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)	19,800	20,820	17,400	18,126	726	-2,694	11.2	11.2	9.4	9.6	0.2	-1.6
Administrative and support service activities (N)	56,062	53,186	51,956	53,570	1,614	384	29.0	26.6	25.5	26.1	0.6	-0.5
Public administration and defence; compulsory social security (O)	12,922	14,542	10,056	17,570	7,514	3,028	9.1	10.0	6.9	11.8	4.9	1.8
Education (P)	46,130	43,800	43,186	43,440	254	-360	17.7	16.1	15.0	15.7	0.7	-0.4
Human health and social work activities (Q)	46,150	38,318	38,776	41,280	2,504	2,962	12.2	9.6	9.5	10.0	0.5	0.4
Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities (R,S)	13,334	12,452	13,408	12,976	-432	524	13.4	12.1	12.6	12.2	-0.4	0.1
Services (T,U)	130	170	14	22	8	-148	11.5	14.1	2.6	4.1	1.5	-10.0
Not stated	94	86	86	68	-18	-18	4.6	5.0	4.9	4.1	-0.8	-0.9
All Economic Sectors	400,414	378,330	361,286	376,844	15,558	-1,486	14.4	13.3	12.4	12.9	0.5	-0.4
Source: CSO Labour Market Churn
¹pp refers to percentage point change

Open in Excel: Labour Market Churn Q4 2025 Table 2.1 (XLS 14KB)

Visit Table JCQ01 on PxStat

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)	Q4 2023	Q4 2024	Q3 2025	Q4 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change	Q4 2023	Q4 2024	Q3 2025	Q4 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A)	3,713	3,654	4,113	4,003	-110	349	27,491	29,099	30,247	29,450	-797	351
Industry (B to E)	18,517	19,192	20,694	19,025	-1,669	-167	273,414	281,746	289,093	288,591	-502	6,845
Construction (F)	15,503	15,217	20,330	15,850	-4,480	633	121,119	129,094	135,269	135,399	130	6,305
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G)	56,285	53,912	43,243	53,103	9,860	-809	364,759	369,647	376,210	374,283	-1,927	4,636
Transportation and storage (H)	8,343	8,361	9,018	8,975	-43	614	92,461	96,269	98,696	99,388	692	3,119
Accommodation and food service activities (I)	44,495	41,607	46,269	40,360	-5,909	-1,247	208,119	214,399	218,054	217,042	-1,012	2,643
Information and communication (J)	9,567	11,874	14,450	11,289	-3,161	-585	126,859	127,009	126,586	127,599	1,013	590
Financial, insurance and real estate activities (K,L)	11,091	10,279	11,325	9,655	-1,670	-624	126,038	126,819	131,341	131,499	158	4,680
Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)	16,625	22,754	17,767	22,575	4,808	-179	158,970	165,232	169,056	164,533	-4,523	-699
Administrative and support service activities (N)	37,409	36,399	38,576	36,875	-1,701	476	154,382	162,375	167,581	167,347	-234	4,972
Public administration and defence; compulsory social security (O)	9,909	12,517	7,896	15,675	7,779	3,158	131,793	133,789	138,724	135,303	-3,421	1,514
Education (P)	33,739	33,424	34,427	33,313	-1,114	-111	221,099	230,435	248,283	236,203	-12,080	5,768
Human health and social work activities (Q)	32,279	28,849	35,515	29,273	-6,242	424	345,587	367,371	377,197	381,182	3,985	13,811
Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities (R,S)	13,432	12,477	17,758	13,080	-4,678	603	83,661	87,898	90,999	90,178	-821	2,280
Services (T,U)	226	191	56	41	-15	-150	954	1,043	490	476	-14	-567
Not stated	479	244	342	260	-82	16	1,538	1,458	1,304	1,334	30	-124
All Economic Sectors	311,612	310,951	321,779	313,352	-8,427	2,401	2,438,244	2,523,683	2,599,130	2,579,807	-19,323	56,124
Source: CSO Labour Market Churn

Open in Excel: Labour Market Churn Q4 2025 Table 2.2 (XLS 12KB)

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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, Q4 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)	Q4 2023	Q4 2024	Q3 2025	Q4 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change	Q4 2023	Q4 2024	Q3 2025	Q4 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A)	2,133	2,090	2,581	2,558	-23	468	3,329	3,138	2,620	3,442	822	304
Industry (B to E)	5,634	5,966	9,045	6,522	-2,523	556	10,398	10,423	5,679	10,663	4,984	240
Construction (F)	7,544	6,884	11,607	7,528	-4,079	644	11,019	10,719	7,451	11,858	4,407	1,139
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G)	23,449	24,060	16,310	23,999	7,689	-61	17,028	15,915	12,470	16,234	3,764	319
Transportation and storage (H)	3,626	3,440	4,024	4,092	68	652	3,284	3,083	2,075	3,364	1,289	281
Accommodation and food service activities (I)	12,929	13,037	17,760	13,279	-4,481	242	23,547	21,537	11,996	20,257	8,261	-1,280
Information and communication (J)	4,535	6,370	9,110	5,522	-3,588	-848	7,491	6,758	6,679	7,772	1,093	1,014
Financial, insurance and real estate activities (K,L)	4,768	4,771	5,803	3,864	-1,939	-907	5,310	4,552	3,702	5,206	1,504	654
Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)	6,725	12,344	9,067	13,512	4,445	1,168	9,884	8,858	6,484	11,236	4,752	2,378
Administrative and support service activities (N)	9,378	9,806	12,598	10,090	-2,508	284	12,491	12,609	6,921	12,030	5,109	-579
Public administration and defence; compulsory social security (O)	3,448	5,246	2,868	6,890	4,022	1,644	3,249	4,110	2,282	2,529	247	-1,581
Education (P)	10,674	11,524	12,834	11,593	-1,241	69	21,919	26,236	24,958	24,787	-171	-1,449
Human health and social work activities (Q)	9,204	9,690	16,127	8,633	-7,494	-1,057	10,379	13,664	5,402	10,893	5,491	-2,771
Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities (R,S)	6,765	6,251	11,054	6,592	-4,462	341	11,096	11,502	5,615	12,099	6,484	597
Services (T,U)	161	106	49	30	-19	-76	60	44	38	59	21	15
Not stated	432	201	299	226	-73	25	303	247	257	251	-6	4
All Economic Sectors	111,405	121,786	141,136	124,930	-16,206	3,144	150,787	153,395	104,629	152,680	48,051	-715
Source: CSO Labour Market Churn

Open in Excel: Labour Market Churn Q4 2025 Table 2.4 (XLS 12KB)

Visit Table JCQ01 on PxStat

The firm size with the highest job churn rate in Q4 2025 were those with 50-249 employees

The firm size with the highest job churn rate in Q4 2025 was the 50-249 employee group, where the job churn was 15.6%, down from 16.2% in Q4 2024.

The firm size with the lowest job churn rate in Q4 2025 was the 1-9 employee group, where the job churn rate was 6.1%, down from 6.3% in Q4 2024.

In Q4 2025 all firms observed a decrease in the job churn rate when compared with Q4 2024. The largest decreases were seen in firms with 10 to 49 employees and firms with 50 to 249 employees, both down 0.6 percentage points from a job churn rate of 13.4% to 12.8% and 16.2% to 15.6%, respectively.

Firms with 250+ employees accounted for 40.5% of all job creations in Q4 2025 (50,569), down from a year ago when firms of this size made up 41.0% of job creations (49,982).

Looking at job destructions, firms with up to 49 employees accounted for 57.5% of all job destructions in Q4 2025 (87,834). This was an increase on Q4 2024, when firms of this size were made up of 56.6% of job destructions (86,810).

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 32.8% of destructions in Q4 2025 (50,028), up from 32.6% of all destructions 12 months ago (49,955).

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 77.3% of the job churn in Q4 2025

In Q4 2025 there were 2,893,159 recorded employments, Irish-owned affiliates accounted for the highest proportion at 75.6% followed by Foreign-owned affiliates owned by non-EU multinationals at 19.3% and Foreign-owned affiliates owned by EU multinationals at 5.1%.

The total number of jobs created in Q4 2025 was 124,930, an increase of 3,144 (2.6%) when compared with the previous year. Jobs created by Irish-owned enterprises accounted for 84.2% (105,244) of all jobs created in Q4 2025.

There were 152,680 job destructions in Q4 2025, a decrease of 715 (0.5%) when compared with the previous year. The number of jobs destroyed was highest among Irish-owned enterprises which accounted for 87.1% (133,025) of the total figure.

Job churn rate for Irish-owned enterprises in Q4 2025 was 13.2%, a decline of 0.3 percentage points when compared with a year earlier. All Foreign-owned enterprises saw a fall of 0.5 percentage points, from 12.5% in Q4 2024 to 12.0% in Q4 2025.

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

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

Table 2.11 Separations by Nationality of Enterprise Ownership and Quarter (number)

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

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Table 2.3a Separations by NACE Rev.2 Economic Sector and Quarter (number)
	Separations
Economic Sector (Nace Rev.2)	Q4 2023	Q4 2024	Q3 2025	Q4 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A)	4,909	4,702	4,152	4,887	735	185
Industry (B to E)	23,281	23,649	17,328	23,166	5,838	-483
Construction (F)	18,978	19,052	16,174	20,180	4,006	1,128
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G)	49,864	45,767	39,403	45,338	5,935	-429
Transportation and storage (H)	8,001	8,004	7,069	8,247	1,178	243
Accommodation and food service activities (I)	55,113	50,107	40,505	47,338	6,833	-2,769
Information and communication (J)	12,523	12,262	12,019	13,539	1,520	1,277
Financial, insurance and real estate activities (K,L)	11,633	10,060	9,224	10,997	1,773	937
Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)	19,784	19,268	15,184	20,299	5,115	1,031
Administrative and support service activities (N)	40,522	39,202	32,899	38,815	5,916	-387
Public administration and defence; compulsory social security (O)	9,710	11,381	7,310	11,314	4,004	-67
Education (P)	44,984	48,136	46,551	46,507	-44	-1,629
Human health and social work activities (Q)	33,454	32,823	24,790	31,533	6,743	-1,290
Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities (R,S)	17,763	17,728	12,319	18,587	6,268	859
Services (T,U)	125	129	45	70	25	-59
Not stated	350	290	300	285	-15	-5
All Economic Sectors	350,994	342,560	285,272	341,102	55,830	-1,458
Source: CSO Labour Market Churn

Table 2.3b Breakdown of Separations of Primary Employments¹ by NACE Rev.2 Economic Sector, Q4 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)	219	422	2,424	3,065
Industry (B to E)	681	2,198	11,291	14,170
Construction (F)	1,165	1,737	8,711	11,613
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G)	2,854	6,846	18,231	27,931
Transportation and storage (H)	637	1,092	3,239	4,968
Accommodation and food service activities (I)	2,876	3,638	17,448	23,962
Information and communication (J)	867	1,068	5,143	7,078
Financial, insurance and real estate activities (K,L)	393	1,350	4,440	6,183
Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)	671	2,521	7,969	11,161
Administrative and support service activities (N)	1,391	4,185	11,232	16,808
Public administration and defence; compulsory social security (O)	193	1,390	3,019	4,602
Education (P)	1,449	2,335	14,625	18,409
Human health and social work activities (Q)	1,693	1,975	11,768	15,436
Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities (R,S)	429	1,385	7,410	9,224
Services (T,U)	0	4	36	40
Not stated	7	38	128	173
All Economic Sectors	15,525	32,184	127,114	174,823
Source: CSO Labour Market Churn
¹Any additional employments have been excluded
²Employees who have changed employer but stayed in the same Economic Sector
³ Employees who have changed employer and Economic Sector
⁴Employees 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	Q4 2023	Q4 2024	Q3 2025	Q4 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change	Q4 2023	Q4 2024	Q3 2025	Q4 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change
1 to 9 Employees	37,577	33,786	41,164	35,559	-5,605	1,773	278,544	289,085	286,114	291,899	5,785	2,814
10 to 49 Employees	66,745	63,823	74,445	63,477	-10,968	-346	467,313	478,934	495,875	491,595	-4,280	12,661
50 to 249 Employees	67,492	66,003	76,154	65,733	-10,421	-270	469,644	481,215	498,500	495,511	-2,989	14,296
250+ Employees	139,798	147,339	130,016	148,583	18,567	1,244	1,222,743	1,274,449	1,318,641	1,300,802	-17,839	26,353
All employees	311,612	310,951	321,779	313,352	-8,427	2,401	2,438,244	2,523,683	2,599,130	2,579,807	-19,323	56,124
Source: CSO Labour Market Churn

Table 2.7 Separations by Firm Size and Quarter (number)
	Separations
Firm Size	Q4 2023	Q4 2024	Q3 2025	Q4 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change
1 to 9 Employees	59,163	60,504	53,262	60,374	7,112	-130
10 to 49 Employees	76,525	73,555	66,377	73,790	7,413	235
50 to 249 Employees	71,656	68,461	57,949	68,845	10,896	384
250+ Employees	143,650	140,040	107,684	138,093	30,409	-1,947
All Employees	350,994	342,560	285,272	341,102	55,830	-1,458
Source: CSO Labour Market Churn

Table 2.8 Job Creation and Destruction by Firm Size and Quarter (number)
	Job Creation						Job Destruction
Firm Size	Q4 2023	Q4 2024	Q3 2025	Q4 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change	Q4 2023	Q4 2024	Q3 2025	Q4 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change
1 to 9 Employees	27,078	23,237	30,206	25,213	-4,993	1,976	48,664	49,955	42,304	50,028	7,724	73
10 to 49 Employees	29,203	27,123	36,769	27,493	-9,276	370	38,983	36,855	28,701	37,806	9,105	951
50 to 249 Employees	20,637	21,444	31,446	21,655	-9,791	211	24,801	23,902	13,241	24,767	11,526	865
250+ Employees	34,487	49,982	42,715	50,569	7,854	587	38,339	42,683	20,383	40,079	19,696	-2,604
All Employees	111,405	121,786	141,136	124,930	-16,206	3,144	150,787	153,395	104,629	152,680	48,051	-715
Source: CSO Labour Market Churn

Labour Market Churn Q4 2025

Results and Analysis

The job churn rate for Q4 2025 was 12.9%, down 0.4 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 (26.1%) in Q4 2025

The firm size with the highest job churn rate in Q4 2025 were those with 50-249 employees

Irish-owned enterprises accounted for 77.3% of the job churn in Q4 2025

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Table 2.11 Separations by Nationality of Enterprise Ownership and Quarter (number)
	Separations
Foreign/Domestic	Q4 2023	Q4 2024	Q3 2025	Q4 2025	Quarterly Change	Annual Change
Irish-owned affiliates	281,733	282,579	231,907	278,711	46,804	-3,868
Foreign-owned affiliates owned by EU multinationals	13,243	11,851	10,395	12,217	1,822	366
Foreign-owned affiliates owned by non-EU multinationals	53,814	48,122	42,114	49,669	7,555	1,547
All Foreign-owned affiliates	67,057	59,973	52,509	61,886	9,377	1,913
Not Stated	2,204	8	856	505	-351	497
All enterprises	350,994	342,560	285,272	341,102	55,830	-1,458
Source: CSO Labour Market Churn