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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.
On an annual basis, the seasonally adjusted employee index rose by 1.7% to November 2023. The employee index for both males and females rose by 1.7% for the same period.
The seasonally adjusted employee index fell by 0.1% in the month to November 2023.
The largest positive change in the monthly index by age was seen in the 15-19-year-old group (+0.5%), while the largest decrease was in the 25-34-year-old group (-0.2%).
The NACE sector with the largest monthly rise in November 2023 was Services (T, U) (+1.5%) and the largest fall was observed in Education (-0.6%). It should be noted that Services (T, U) is the smallest sector, with 4,600 employees in November 2023.
In the 12 months to November 2023, the Transportation & Storage sector saw the largest rise in the number of employees (+6.3%).
The Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data release is a very short time series (just under 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 2023. The models are being updated as part of the annual review process in accordance with the CSO and ESS (European Statistical System/Eurostat) guidelines.
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. All figures for monthly percentage change and annual percentage change are calculated prior to the input data being rounded.
| 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 |
| November 2022 | 2,395,700 | 111.2 | 0.7 | 6.4 |
| October 2023 | 2,438,900 | 113.2 | 0.2 | 2.5 |
| November 2023 | 2,437,400 | 113.2 | -0.1 | 1.7 |
The seasonally adjusted index increased by 1.7% in November 2023 when compared with November 2022. March 2021 was the last month to show a negative annual change (-10.9%) in the employee index.
Both the female and male indices increased on an annual basis by 1.7%. On a monthly basis, the female index fell by 0.1% while the male index remained unchanged in November 2023.
Except for the 15-19 years age category (-1.6%), all age groups saw annual increases in the employee index. The age group with the largest annual rise in employees was 65 years and over (+7.9%) followed by those aged 60-64 years (+4.3%).
Most economic sectors showed an annual increase in the employee index when compared with November 2022 except for decreases in the Information & Communication (-4.1%), Administrative & Support Service Activities (-1.9%), and Education (-1.4%) sectors. The sectors showing the largest annual rises were Transportation & Storage (+6.3%), and Services (T, U) (+6.1%).
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (18 January 2024) released Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data, November 2023.
Commenting on the release, Eimear Heffernan, Statistician in the Labour Market & Earnings Division, said:
“Ten NACE sectors saw a monthly increase in the numbers employed in November 2023, four sectors decreased, while one saw no change. The largest monthly fall was in the Education sector (-0.6%), while the largest monthly rise was in the Services (T, U) sector (+1.5%).
The 15-19 years age group saw the largest positive change (+0.5%) in employment in the month to November 2023, while the 25-34 years age group observed the greatest decline (-0.2%)."
Data from this publication supplement those 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.