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 decreased by 0.5% in the month to September 2024.
The monthly employee index for males fell by 0.5%, while the employee index for females was down by 0.4% over the same period.
The seasonally adjusted employee index was up by 1.4% in the 12 months to September 2024.
Taking age into account, all groups saw monthly decreases in September. The largest falls were in the 15-19 years (-3.4%) and 20-24 years (-1.4%) age groups.
Decreases were noted across all NACE sectors in September 2024. The NACE sectors with the largest monthly falls in September 2024 were Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing (-2.2%), and Human Health & Social Work Activities (-2.0%).
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.
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.
Note: It is anticipated that an update including new weighting will be introduced in forthcoming months. This will result in a break in series.
| 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 2023 | 2,441,300 | 113.3 | 0.9 | 2.9 |
| August 2024 | 2,488,900 | 115.5 | 0.1 | 2.9 |
| September 2024 | 2,475,200 | 114.9 | -0.5 | 1.4 |
The seasonally adjusted index increased by 1.4% in September 2024 when compared with September 2023. March 2021 was the last month to show an annual decrease (-11.0%) in the employee index.
On an annual basis, the female index increased by 1.4%, while the male index rose by 1.3%. On a monthly basis the female index was down by 0.4%, while the male index decreased by 0.5%.
With the exception of the 15-19 years age category (-6.1%), all age groups saw annual increases in the employee index. The age groups with the largest annual rise in employees was 65 years and over (+8.3%), followed by those aged 60-64 years (+4.8%).
Ten economic sectors showed an annual increase in the employee index when compared with September 2023. The sectors showing the largest annual increases were Services (T,U)* and Human Health & Social Work Activities (both +3.8%). The largest decrease was recorded in Information & Communication (-1.9%). *It should be noted that Services (T, U) is the smallest sector, with 4,400 employees in September 2024.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (15 November 2024) published Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data, September 2024.
Commenting on the release, Aoife McHugh, Statistician in the Labour Market & Earnings Division, said:
“All NACE sectors saw a monthly decrease in the numbers employed in September 2024. The sector that observed the largest monthly fall was Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing (-2.2%), while the smallest monthly decrease was seen in Financial, Insurance & Real Estate Activities (-0.1%).
The 15-19 years age group saw the largest decrease in employees in the month to September 2024 (-3.4%), while the 60-64 years age group saw the smallest monthly decrease in the employee index (-0.1%).
On an annual basis, the seasonally adjusted index went up by 1.4% from September 2023 to September 2024.”
Data from this release 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.