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 largest proportion of people employed in these sectors were Irish nationals. As the sector has grown, the overall number of Irish nationals employed in the sector has also grown from 47,889 in 2019 to 72,784 in 2025, which is an increase of 52.0%. The sector growth has also resulted in an increase in the proportion of persons of other nationalities working in the sector, starting at 20.9% in 2019 and increasing to 24.8% in 2025.
The sector employs people from a variety of educational levels. Based on data from Census 2022, the largest proportion, 56.6%, of employees in these sectors had completed third level education1. A further 13.4% had completed Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) and remaining 30% had completed secondary education or below. The median weekly earnings were highest for those who had completed third level education at €1,295 per week, almost double that of persons who had completed primary education or lower.
There were persons employed in these sectors living in every county in Ireland. Based on data from Census 2022, the highest percentage of all employed in these sectors lived in Co. Cork (17.3%), followed by Co. Dublin (15.6%) and Co. Galway (15.1%).
In 2022 the median weekly earnings varied greatly by county based on the residence of the employee. Employees residing in Co. Carlow had the highest median weekly earnings at €1,486. Employees living in the adjacent counties of Co. Laois and Co. Kildare had similar median weekly earnings at €1,446 and €1,420, respectively.
Employees living in Co. Cork, which had the highest employee count, had median weekly earnings of €1,395. Employees living in Co. Dublin and Co. Galway, which had similar employee counts, differed greatly in terms of their median weekly earnings. Median weekly earnings for employees in Co. Dublin were €1,316 and €831 in Co. Galway, a difference of €485 (58.4%) per week.
The lowest median weekly earnings were with employees living in Co. Donegal of €721, less than half the value of the median weekly earnings in the highest earning Co. Carlow. A similar pattern of earnings is evident for median annual earnings.
1Data presented regarding educational level and residence of employee are based on PMOD data which had a valid match in Census 2022 data.
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