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Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data April 2025

The Monthly Employee Index rose by 0.2% in the month to April 2025

Online ISSN: 2811-5791

CSO statistical release, 24 June 2025, 11am

A CSO Frontier Series Output

This publication 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.

Key Findings

The monthly employee index for males rose by 0.2%, while the employee index for females was up by 0.3% in the month to April 2025.
The seasonally adjusted annual employee index rose by 2.1% to April 2025.
Taking age into account, the largest monthly increase was observed in the 65 years and over category (+0.7%).
The largest monthly rise by economic sector was in Education (+1.3%).

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (24 June 2025) published Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data, April 2025.

Commenting on the release, Aoife McHugh, Statistician in the Labour Market & Earnings Division, said:

“Nine NACE sectors saw a monthly increase in the numbers employed in April 2025, four were unchanged, while two sectors showed a decrease. The sector that observed the largest monthly fall was Services (T, U) (-0.3%). The largest monthly increase was in Education (+1.3%). It should be noted that Services (T, U) is the smallest sector, with 4,500 employees in April 2025.

The 65 years and over category saw the largest monthly rise in employees in April 2025 (+0.7%).

The seasonally adjusted annual index went up by 2.1% between April 2024 and April 2025.”

Data from this release supplements data published in the Labour Force Survey (LFS) quarterly series, which is the official measure of both employment and unemployment for the State. Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data are of relevance to LFS Seasonally Adjusted Estimates and Employment outputs.

Seasonal Adjustment

The Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data release is a very short time series (just over five years of monthly data) and is thus at the lower limit of acceptable length for the seasonal adjustment process. In the short term, care should be taken in interpreting the seasonally adjusted output. Users should be aware that there is increased uncertainty around the seasonally adjusted figures during the COVID-19 period due to the volatility of the data. Non-seasonally adjusted data are available on PxStat. The seasonal models were revised in June 2024. The models are being updated as part of the annual review process in accordance with the CSO and ESS (European Statistical System/Eurostat) guidelines.

Revisions and Rounding

The Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data is published as a 'Frontier' release, therefore the methodology and data are subject to revision. As more data become available, due to later transmissions from employers, the series may change from month to month. As this particularly affects the most recent months, figures should be considered provisional for the two most recent months for the non-seasonally adjusted data. Estimates for 2023 were revised in June 2024 as part of an annual review with the latest data available. All figures for monthly percentage change and annual percentage change are calculated prior to the input data being rounded.

It is anticipated that an update including new weighting will be introduced in forthcoming months. This will result in a break in series.

Key Figures

Number of Employees and Employee Index, Monthly and Annual Changes, Seasonally Adjusted
Period	Number of Employees	Employee Index (Base year: 2019=100)	Monthly % Change	Annual % Change
April 2024	2,480,500	115.2	0.0	2.2
March 2025	2,528,300	117.4	0.0	1.9
April 2025	2,533,400	117.6	0.2	2.1

Open in Excel: Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data April 2025 Headline Table (XLS 10KB)

Employee Index Totals, Seasonally Adjusted

The seasonally adjusted index increased by 2.1% in April 2025 when compared with April 2024. March 2021 was the last month to show an annual decrease in the employee index (-11.1%).

Table 1 Employee Index and Total Number of Employees, Seasonally Adjusted

Employee Index by Sex, Seasonally Adjusted

On an annual basis, the index for females increased by 2.1%, and for males was up by 2.4%. The monthly index increased by 0.3% for females and 0.2% for males in April 2025.

Table 2 Employee Index by Sex, Seasonally Adjusted

Table 2a Number of Employees by Sex, Seasonally Adjusted

Table 2a Number of Employees by Sex, Seasonally Adjusted
		Male			Female			Both Sexes
Year	Month	Number of Employees	Monthly % Change	Annual % Change	Number of Employees	Monthly % Change	Annual % Change	Number of Employees	Monthly % Change	Annual % Change
2023	April	1,224,900	-0.1	3.3	1,200,000	-0.1	3.6	2,426,200	0.0	3.4
	May	1,223,600	-0.1	2.9	1,198,000	-0.2	3.0	2,421,500	-0.2	3.1
	June	1,226,100	0.2	3.0	1,200,900	0.2	3.5	2,425,200	0.2	3.2
	July	1,226,900	0.1	2.8	1,201,200	0.0	3.2	2,425,800	0.0	2.9
	August	1,227,100	0.0	2.7	1,201,100	0.0	3.4	2,428,300	0.1	3.0
	September	1,234,200	0.6	2.6	1,208,500	0.6	3.1	2,441,600	0.5	2.9
	October	1,237,000	0.2	2.5	1,213,900	0.5	3.1	2,449,600	0.3	2.8
	November	1,237,400	0.0	2.1	1,213,600	0.0	2.2	2,451,700	0.1	2.2
	December	1,240,400	0.2	2.0	1,216,900	0.3	2.1	2,459,500	0.3	2.1

2024	January	1,242,800	0.2	2.1	1,221,500	0.4	2.4	2,466,300	0.3	2.2
	February	1,246,800	0.3	2.1	1,225,900	0.4	2.4	2,474,800	0.3	2.2
	March	1,250,000	0.3	2.0	1,232,200	0.5	2.5	2,481,300	0.3	2.3
	April	1,251,400	0.1	2.2	1,230,100	-0.2	2.5	2,480,500	0.0	2.2
	May	1,257,100	0.5	2.7	1,234,500	0.4	3.0	2,489,000	0.3	2.8
	June	1,256,800	0.0	2.5	1,235,200	0.1	2.9	2,490,200	0.0	2.7
	July	1,257,600	0.1	2.5	1,238,300	0.3	3.1	2,494,500	0.2	2.8
	August	1,260,700	0.2	2.7	1,241,100	0.2	3.3	2,503,900	0.4	3.1
	September	1,257,100	-0.3	1.9	1,229,400	-0.9	1.7	2,488,000	-0.6	1.9
	October	1,264,800	0.6	2.2	1,242,600	1.1	2.4	2,508,700	0.8	2.4
	November	1,270,600	0.5	2.7	1,246,900	0.3	2.7	2,518,500	0.4	2.7
	December	1,272,500	0.1	2.6	1,249,500	0.2	2.7	2,523,500	0.2	2.6

2025	January	1,276,100	0.3	2.7	1,251,800	0.2	2.5	2,529,000	0.2	2.5
	February	1,276,200	0.0	2.4	1,251,700	0.0	2.1	2,527,500	-0.1	2.1
	March	1,278,900	0.2	2.3	1,252,100	0.0	1.6	2,528,300	0.0	1.9
	April	1,281,700	0.2	2.4	1,256,000	0.3	2.1	2,533,400	0.2	2.1
Source: PMOD Revenue Commissioner's Employee Tax Data

Open in Excel: Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data April 2025 Table 2a (XLS 12KB)

Employee Index by Age Groups, Seasonally Adjusted

With the exception of the 15-19 years age category (-1.9%), all age groups saw annual increases in the employee index. The age groups with the largest annual rise in employees were the 65 years and over age group (+5.9%), followed by those aged 60-64 years (+5.5%).

Table 3 Employee Index by Age Group, Seasonally Adjusted

Table 3a Number of Employees by Age Group, Seasonally Adjusted

Employee Index by Economic Sector

Two NACE sectors saw an annual decrease in the employee index when compared with April 2024 – Accommodation & Food Services Activities (-0.5%) and Transportation & Storage (-0.4%). All other NACE sectors observed increases in the annual index, with the largest changes in Construction (+5.1%), Education (+4.7%), and Industry (B-E) (+4.2%).

Table 4 Employee Index classified by NACE Rev.2 Economic Sector, Seasonally Adjusted

Table 4a Number of Employees classified by NACE Rev.2 Economic Sector, Seasonally Adjusted

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Table 3 Employee Index by Age Group, Seasonally Adjusted
	Employee Index (Base Year 2019=100)			Monthly % Change	Annual % Change
Age Group	April 2024	March 2025	April 2025	Monthly % Change	Annual % Change
15 - 19 years	133.6	130.5	131.0	0.4	-1.9
20 - 24 years	116.5	119.0	119.3	0.3	2.4
25 - 34 years	107.8	109.1	109.2	0.1	1.3
35 - 44 years	107.4	107.8	107.8	0.0	0.3
45 - 54 years	122.7	127.3	127.7	0.3	4.0
55 - 59 years	120.0	124.2	124.6	0.4	3.8
60 - 64 years	129.0	135.5	136.0	0.4	5.5
65 years and over	149.3	157.1	158.2	0.7	5.9
15 years and over	115.2	117.4	117.6	0.2	2.1
Source: PMOD Revenue Commissioner's Employee Tax Data

Table 3a Number of Employees by Age Group, Seasonally Adjusted
	Number of Employees			Monthly % Change	Annual % Change
Age Group	April 2024	March 2025	April 2025	Monthly % Change	Annual % Change
15 - 19 years	120,200	117,400	117,900	0.4	-1.9
20 - 24 years	260,900	266,500	267,200	0.3	2.4
25 - 34 years	562,900	570,000	570,500	0.1	1.3
35 - 44 years	623,100	625,000	625,200	0.0	0.3
45 - 54 years	533,000	552,700	554,400	0.3	4.0
55 - 59 years	191,000	197,500	198,300	0.4	3.8
60 - 64 years	130,300	136,900	137,500	0.4	5.5
65 years and over	64,800	68,100	68,600	0.7	5.9
15 years and over	2,480,500	2,528,300	2,533,400	0.2	2.1
Source: PMOD Revenue Commissioner's Employee Tax Data

Table 4 Employee Index classified by NACE Rev.2 Economic Sector, Seasonally Adjusted
	Employee Index (Base Year 2019=100)			Monthly % Change	Annual % Change
Sector	April 2024	March 2025	April 2025	Monthly % Change	Annual % Change
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A)	111.6	115.2	115.1	-0.1	3.2
Industry (B to E)	112.7	117.0	117.4	0.3	4.2
Construction (F)	123.2	129.3	129.5	0.2	5.1
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G)	110.3	110.5	110.5	0.1	0.2
Transportation and storage (H)	120.5	120.0	120.0	0.0	-0.4
Accommodation and food service activities (I)	112.0	111.3	111.4	0.0	-0.5
Information and communication (J)	118.5	121.2	121.7	0.4	2.7
Financial, insurance and real estate activities (K,L)	113.2	117.4	117.7	0.3	4.0
Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)	123.0	125.5	125.6	0.0	2.1
Administrative and support service activities (N)	110.6	112.1	112.3	0.1	1.5
Public administration and defence; compulsory social security (O)	118.7	120.0	120.0	0.0	1.1
Education (P)	116.3	120.2	121.8	1.3	4.7
Human health and social work activities (Q)	122.6	126.2	126.3	0.1	3.0
Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities (R,S)	102.0	103.5	103.6	0.1	1.6
Services (T,U)	116.4	117.0	116.6	-0.3	0.1
Not stated ¹	..	..	..	..	..

Aggregated Sectors
Cultural and Creative Industries	105.5	106.8	107.3	0.5	1.7
Tourism Industries	112.9	110.9	111.4	0.4	-1.3

All Economic Sectors	115.2	117.4	117.6	0.2	2.1
Source: PMOD Revenue Commissioner's Employee Tax Data
¹ .. Not applicable

Table 4a Number of Employees classified by NACE Rev.2 Economic Sector, Seasonally Adjusted
	Number of Employees			Monthly % Change	Annual % Change
Sector	April 2024	March 2025	April 2025	Monthly % Change	Annual % Change
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A)	29,000	30,000	29,900	-0.1	3.2
Industry (B to E)	267,400	277,700	278,600	0.3	4.2
Construction (F)	140,800	147,700	148,000	0.2	5.1
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G)	389,400	390,100	390,300	0.1	0.2
Transportation and storage (H)	95,000	94,600	94,600	0.0	-0.4
Accommodation and food service activities (I)	206,400	205,200	205,200	0.0	-0.5
Information and communication (J)	120,200	122,900	123,400	0.4	2.7
Financial, insurance and real estate activities (K,L)	128,400	133,100	133,500	0.3	4.0
Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)	162,400	165,700	165,700	0.0	2.1
Administrative and support service activities (N)	159,700	161,900	162,100	0.1	1.5
Public administration and defence; compulsory social security (O)	210,600	212,900	213,000	0.0	1.1
Education (P)	173,600	179,400	181,800	1.3	4.7
Human health and social work activities (Q)	295,500	304,100	304,500	0.1	3.0
Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities (R,S)	98,900	100,300	100,400	0.1	1.6
Services (T,U)	4,500	4,500	4,500	-0.3	0.1
Not stated^1, ²	0	200	700	0.0	0.0

Aggregated Sectors
Cultural and Creative Industries	37,200	37,700	37,800	0.5	1.7
Tourism Industries	225,000	221,100	222,100	0.4	-1.3

All Economic Sectors	2,480,500	2,528,300	2,533,400	0.2	2.1
¹ .. Not applicable
² May be subject to revision due to a lag in coding of activity in Revenue's PMOD file

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Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data April 2025