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.
The seasonally adjusted employee index was unchanged in the month to September 2023.
On an annual basis the index increased by 2.3% to September 2023. The female employee index rose by 2.6%, while the male index was up by 2.0% for the same period.
The largest positive change in the monthly index by age was seen in the 65 years and over age group (+1.1%), while the largest decrease was in the 15-19-year-old group (-1.3%).
The NACE sectors with the largest monthly growth in September 2023 were Public Administration & Defence (+1.7%) and Transportation & Storage (+0.5%). The largest fall was observed in Construction (-0.6%).
In the 12 months to September 2023, the Transportation & Storage sector saw the largest rise in the number of employees (+6.1%).
The Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data release is a very short time series (four and a half 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 |
| September 2022 | 2,374,600 | 110.2 | 0.6 | 7.6 |
| August 2023 | 2,428,100 | 112.7 | 0.2 | 2.9 |
| September 2023 | 2,428,500 | 112.7 | 0.0 | 2.3 |
The seasonally adjusted index increased by 2.3% in September 2023 when compared with September 2022. March 2021 was the last month to show a negative annual change (-10.9%) in the employee index.
The female and male indices increased on an annual basis by 2.6% and 2.0% respectively. On a monthly basis, the female index remained unchanged while the male index rose by 0.1% in September 2023.
With the exception of the 15-19 years age category (-4.6%), 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 (+9.6%) followed by those aged 60-64 years (+6.2%).
Most economic sectors showed an annual increase in the employee index when compared with September 2022 except for Information & Communication (-2.7%) and Administrative & Support Service Activities (-1.3%). The sectors showing the largest annual rises were Transportation & Storage (+6.1%), and Public Administration & Defence (+5.1%).
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (16 November 2023) released Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data, September 2023.
Commenting on the release, Eimear Heffernan, Statistician in the Labour Market & Earnings Division, said:
“Six NACE sectors saw monthly decreases in the numbers employed in September 2023, eight increased, while one had no change. The largest monthly fall was in the Construction sector (-0.6%), while the largest monthly rise was in Public Administration & Defence (+1.7%).
Employment was down in all age categories 34 and under in the month to September 2023. The largest fall observed was in those aged 15-19 years (-1.3%); the 20-24 and 25-34 age categories were both down 0.2%. All groups 35 years and over saw an increase in employment, with the largest positive change observed in the 65 years and over age group (+1.1%).”
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.