Number of IT workers in employment holds steady despite tech layoffs

Number in employment across the country increased 2.6% over the past 12 months

Ireland's tech sector has added more than 10,000 jobs since 2019.

There has been a slight increase in the number of IT workers in the State despite a series of tech layoffs by multinationals operating in Ireland.

New data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) using payroll data from the Revenue shows that 2.4 million people were in employment in June, a similar number to last month but an increase of 61,300 or 2.6% compared to June 2022.

The Information and Communication sector employs just over 123,400 people a 300 increase compared to last year. However, the sector has added more than 10,000 jobs since June 2021. This comes despite a series of redundancy announcements as multinational tech firms located in Ireland reorganised operations following rapid expansion in the wake of the covid pandemic that saw a huge increase in demand for IT services.

In May, Facebook and Instagram owner Meta announced that 490 jobs were to go at its Irish operations, on top of the 320 redundancies last November. Accenture announced this month that it was cutting almost 900 jobs. Over the past year, Google, Twitter, Stripe and Microsoft all made reductions in headcounts. A report earlier this year from the Central Bank estimated the number of layoffs in the tech sector at 2,300.

According to the CSO, the financial, insurance and real estate sector saw the largest rise in the number of employees jumping 6.8% in the past 12 months, while the construction, Transportation & Storage (+0.5%), followed by Human Health & Social Work Activities and Public Administration & Defence

The largest monthly fall occurred in Accommodation & Food Service Activities which saw a 2.7% drop compared to May.

"Employment across all age groups 44 years and under was down in the month to June 2023," John Mullane, statistician in the CSO's Labour Market & Earnings Division said. "The largest decline was observed in the 20-24 years category (-2.1%). The remaining age groups showed a monthly increase."