Number of people employed up slightly amid 'softening' in labour market 

Total labour force increased by 31,300, or 1.1% year-on-year, to 2.99m

The age with the highest employment rate was the 45-54 group, at 85.8%. Picture: Ben Kilb/Bloomberg

The number of people employed in Ireland grew marginally during the second quarter of the year by 0.8% to just under 2.84m with data showing a “softening in the Irish labour market”.

According to data from the CSO, the number of people aged 15 to 89 years in employment rose by 21,200 between April and June, or 0.8%, compared to the same period last year.

Chief economist at Goodbody Dermot O’Leary said while the labour force data was better during the second quarter compared to the first it still “confirms a softening in the Irish labour market”.

“In annual terms, employment grew by 0.8% year-on-year in the second quarter Q2 relative to an average annual rate of 2.5% over the 2024-2025 period,” he said.

“Survey data such as the LFS [Labour Force Survey] can be somewhat volatile but coupled with the monthly administrative data, there are growing signs of slowing employment growth, likely owing to both structural and cyclical factors.” 

The total available labour force increased by 31,300, or 1.1% year on year, to 2.99m.

Of those in employment, 589,600, or 20.8%, work part-time and if those 153,800 were classified as underemployed which is they would like to work more hours for more pay.

Mr O’Leary also noted that part-time employment is up by 1.3% during the quarter but full time employment growth slowed, up by just 0.6% which outside of the pandemic, “is the slowest rate of full-time employment growth since quarter one 2013”.

The estimated number of self-employed was 359,200.

Employment rates by age

In the 12 months to the end of June, the age group with the highest employment rate was the 45 to 54 years age group at 85.8%. 

The lowest employment rate by age was observed in the 15 to 19-year-old group at 25.6%.

The overall employment rate for people aged 15 to 64 years was 74.3% during the quarter, down from 74.7% last year.

The number of people aged 15 to 74 years who were unemployed as of the end of the quarter stood at 151,000, with an associated unemployment rate of 5.1% up from 4.8% last year.

There were 38,900 people in long-term unemployment, longer than 12 months, which is 7,200 more people during the second quarter of last year.

The unemployment rate for those aged 15-24 years, the youth unemployment rate, stood at 13.2%.

The estimated total number of hours worked per week during the quarter was 89.0m hours which was unchanged year-on-year.

The number of people who worked from home fell by 22,500, or 2.2% to 990,600 during the quarter. At the same time, those that never worked from home rose by 43,800, or 2.4% to 1,839,400.

The economic sector which had the largest increase in employment was education which rose by 14,200 people while the largest decline was seen in the professional, scientific, and technical activities down 17,100.

The health sector was up 0.9% year-on-year.

“These are clearly dominated by the public sector and comes as no surprise given the ongoing expansion in current government spending this year,” Mr O’Leary said.