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For more information on this release:
E-mail: sscu@cso.ie Kieran Culhane (+353)1 498 4364
For general information on CSO statistics:
information@cso.ie (+353) 21 453 5000 On-line ISSN
CSO statistical release, , 11am

Illness Benefits: Employment and Commuting Analysis

2016-2017

Illness and injury benefits rates in employment, 2016-2017
per 1,000 employees
 MaleFemaleTotal
Illness benefit rate5510380
of which   
Multiple illness benefit rate92115
Long-term illness benefit rate7119
Injury benefit rate745

Illness benefit was paid to 80 per 1,000 employees in the year after Census 2016

go to full release

Illness benefit is a scheme provided by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection to support employees if they cannot work in the short term because they are sick or ill. The majority of illness benefit claims are less than 4 weeks in duration with no payment made for the first six days of illness. Only paid claims are included in the following analysis. The duration of Illness Benefit is capped at two years for new entrants since 2009.

  • Illness benefit recipients were more likely to be;

commuters travelling by car

workers who left home for work earlier 

working outside of Dublin

  • Illness benefit was more common;

as age increased

with people who described their health as poor

  • Illness benefit rate was higher among;

female employees, at 103 per 1,000 employees compared with a rate of 55 per 1,000 male employees

employees who said they had a disability

  • Illness benefit rate was;

highest for people who worked in Health & Social Work and Public Administration & Defence

lowest for people who were managers, senior officials and professionals

below average among higher earners

  • Multiple (more than one) illness benefit claims were made by 15 per 1,000 employees
  • People who had a long-term (6 months or more) illness benefit claimed at a rate of 9 per 1,000 employees
  • The injury benefit rate was 5 per 1,000 employees, with a higher rate for males of 7 per 1,000 employees compared with 4 per 1,000 employees for females

About this release

This CSO release examines commuting and employment data for people who received illness or injury benefits (see Infographic) and is an example of the policy-relevant research projects the CSO are developing as part of their leadership role of the Irish Statistical System. Our goal is to maximise the variety and volume of data available, to provide high quality information to government, businesses and citizens.


Under the auspices of the Statistics Act, 1993 and in compliance with all relevant data protection legislation, the CSO is in a unique position to gather and link administrative data sources held by government departments and agencies, and evaluate their potential for statistical use.

Long commuting times can have significant impacts on work-life balance, well-being, and stress levels and can indirectly impact on people’s ability to manage their own health and well-being. Commuting can have a detrimental effect on health levels if the individual is, for example, using a car instead of walking, and where exposure to pollution is increased by commuting. Also, findings from the Healthy Ireland Survey, Irish Sports Monitor and other research shows that one of the most common reasons cited for not meeting the National Physical Activity Guidelines is lack of time. Following discussions with the Department of Health, the CSO agreed to explore the potential of linking Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection illness benefit claims with data from Census 2016 to provide information on any potential correlation between commuting patterns and illness benefit claims. 

The analysis looks at employees who made a claim for illness benefit in the 12 months following Census night (24 April 2016). An illness benefit claim was made by 110,371 employees in this period, with 20,896 employees making multiple illness benefit claims and 12,148 employees making an illness benefit claim of six months or longer. Over this time period, an occupational injury benefit claim was made by 7,575 employees, (see Background Notes for more details).

While the insights obtained here only relate to commuting patterns at the time of Census 2016, it demonstrates the possibilities for analysis if Eircodes were more widely collected in public sector datasets. A previous CSO publication on Measuring Distance to Everyday Services in Ireland 2019 demonstrated the potential value of Eircodes in relation to access to services also using Census location data. 

In using the increasingly-varied sources of data available, the CSO must ensure that we continue to protect and secure data. Our aim is to ensure that citizens can live in an informed society while at the same time ensuring adherence to all relevant data protection legislation.

Age and general health impacted on illness benefit rate

Illness benefit was more common as age increased. For workers under 25 years, the rate was 35 per 1,000 employees, compared with 94 per 1,000 employees among workers aged 45-64. See Table 1.

People who described their health as poor were more likely to claim illness benefit. The rate was 196 per 1,000 employees for those with bad health and 162 per 1,000 employees for those with very bad health, compared to just 68 per 1,000 employees for workers with very good health. See Table 2.

Illness benefit rate higher among those who reported a disability

Employees with a disability in Census 2016 had an illness benefit rate of 129 per 1,000 employees, higher than the average rate of 80 per 1,000 employees.

Workers who had a ‘difficulty that limits basic physical activities such as walking, climbing stairs, reaching, lifting or carrying’ had the highest illness benefit rate of 177 per 1,000 employees. Workers with an intellectual disability had the lowest rate of illness benefit, at 50 per 1,000 employees, well below the average rate of 80 per 1,000 employees. Workers with long term disabilities may be in receipt of other Department of Employment Afairs and Social Protection benefits such as disability allowance rather than illness benefit. See Table 2.

Illness benefit rate higher among unpaid carers

The illness benefit rate was higher than average, at 100 per 1,000 employees, for those who were carers providing unpaid assistance. See Table 2.

Illness benefit paid to 82 per 1,000 employees who were commuters

The average rate of illness benefit among employees who commuted to work was 82 per 1,000 employees, slightly higher than the rate of 80 for all employees. See Table 3.

Illness benefit rate higher among workers who departed for work earlier

Illness benefit rates were above average for those who left for work before 8.00am, with the highest rate of 101 per 1,000 employees for those who left before 6.30am. The rate of illness benefit falls for those who left for work up to 9.30am. Workers who started their commute after 9.30am had a rate of 78 per 1,000 employees, close to the average of 80. See Figure 2 and Table 3.

Long-term illness benefit rates were above average among those who departed for work later (after 9.00am), which included those on irregular hours and shift work.

For injury benefit, the highest rate was 12 per 1,000 employees for workers who started their commute before 6.30am, compared with the average rate of 5 per 1,000 employees. Commuters who left between 6.30am and 7.30am and after 9.30am also had rates above the average.

Time of Departure for WorkIllness benefitMultiple illness benefitLong-term illness benefitInjury benefit
Before 06:30101201012
06:30 - 07:00941898
07:01 - 07:30901886
07:31 - 08:00811684
08:01 - 08:30751473
08:31 - 09:00731382
09:01 - 09:306912103
After 09:307814116

Commuters who travelled by car more likely to be illness benefit recipients

The illness benefit rate was above average for those who commuted by driving or were a passenger in a car, at 91 and 86 per 1,000 employees respectively. All other modes of commuting had lower than average rates of illness benefit, with the lowest rates for those who cycled (44 per 1,000 employees) or took the Train, DART, or Luas (54 per 1,000 employees). See Figure 3 and Table 3.

The injury benefit rate was highest at 10 per 1,000 employees for those who commuted by motorcycle or scooter, followed by those who commuted by other modes, including lorry or van. Car passengers and cyclists also had higher rates but those who commuted by train, DART or Luas had the lowest rate of 2 per 1,000 employees.

Means of Travel to WorkIllness benefitMultiple illness benefitLong-term illness benefitInjury benefit
On foot631184
Bicycle44746
Bus, minibus or coach691584
Train, DART or Luas541342
Motor cycle or scooter7814810
Driving a car911795
Passenger in a car8617117
Van59978
Other, including lorry70101110

Little difference in illness benefit rate for travel times

The illness benefit rate was just above the average for all journey times to work which took up to one hour and was lowest for those with a commuting time of more than 1.5 hours. See Figure 4 and Table 3.

Time Taken to Travel to WorkIllness benefitMultiple illness benefitLong-term illness benefitInjury benefit
< ¼ hour8415105
¼ hour - < ½ hour851696
½ hour - < ¾ hour821685
¾ hour - < 1 hour801674
1 hour - < 1½ hours751575
1½ hours and over721575

Illness benefit recipients more likely to work outside of Dublin

The illness benefit rate among commuters travelling to Dublin was below average at 70 per 1,000 employees. Commuters travelling to cities other than Dublin had the highest illness benefit rate of 95 per 1,000 employees. See Table 3.

Managers, senior officials, skilled trades and professionals had lower illness benefit rates

Four occupational groups had below average illness benefit rates: Managers, Directors & Senior Officials, Professional, Associate Professional & Technical and Skilled Trades. See Figure 5 and Table 4.

The highest rates of illness benefit with over 100 per 1,000 employees were from the occupations of Caring, Leisure & Other Service Occupations and Process, Plant & Machine Operatives.

The highest rates of people with multiple illness benefit claims were in the occupations of Caring, Leisure & Other Service Occupations and Administrative & Secretarial Occupations.

For injury benefit, the highest rates were for Process, Plant & Machine Operatives at 12 per 1,000, followed by Elementary Occupations at 9 per 1,000 employees, both well above the average rate of 5 per 1,000 employees.

Broad Occupational GroupIllness benefitMultiple illness benefitLong-term illness benefitInjury benefit
Managers, directors and senior officials52872
Professional occupations691342
Associate professional and technical occupations621364
Administrative and secretarial occupations972392
Skilled trades occupations61988
Caring, leisure and other service occupations11724148
Sales and customer service occupations8715135
Process, plant and machine operatives102191212
Elementary occupations8314139

Human Health and Social Work and Public Administration and Defence had the highest rates of illness benefit

At over 130 per 1,000 employees the Human Health & Social Work and Public Administration & Defence sectors had the highest illness benefit rates. Transportation & Storage was the only other sector with above average rates. Industry, at a rate of 80 per 1,000 employees was exactly on the average for illness benefits. See Figure 6 and Table 4.

Information & Communication, Construction, and Professional, Scientific & Technical Activities had the lowest rates at 40 or lower per 1,000 employees.

Public Administration & Defence had the highest multiple illness benefit rate followed by Human Health & Social Work.

The sectoral pattern was different for long-term illness benefit recipients. Economic sectors which include irregular hours or shift work had above average rates of long-term illness benefit, with Human Health & Social Work, Wholesale & Retail Trade, and Accommodation & Food Service having the highest rates.

At 13 per 1,000 employees, Transportation & Storage had the highest rate of injury benefit followed by Public Administration & Defence and Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing. Information & Communication, Financial, Insurance & Real Estate, Professional, Scientific & Technical and Education had the lowest rates of injury benefit.

NACE Economic SectorIllness benefitMultiple illness benefitLong-term illness benefitInjury benefit
Agriculture, forestry and fishing52788
Industry 801496
Construction40576
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vechicles7412116
Transportation and storage90161013
Accommodation and food service activities609115
Information and communication activities38741
Financial, insurance and real estate activities791772
Professional, scientific and technical activities40652
Administrative and support service activities 6110106
Public administration and defence; compulsory social security1323879
Education771362
Human health and social work activities13228127
Arts, entertainment and recreation54973
Other6811113

Rate of illness benefit falls as earnings increase

The occupations and economic sectors of workers who received illness benefit is reflected in the earnings data, with below average illness benefit rates among higher earners. The rate of illness benefit is above the average of 80 per 1,000 employees for all annual earnings up to €60,000, with the highest rate of 103 per 1,000 employees for those earning between €30,000 and €50,000. Workers earning more than €70,000 a year had the lowest illness benefit rate of 43 per 1,000 employees. See Figure 7 and Table 4.

Gross payIllness benefit
€10,000-€19,99981
€20,000-€29,99991
€30,000-€39,999103
€40,000-€49,999103
€50,000-€59,99997
€60,000-€69,99975
€70,000 and above43
Table 1 Demographic profile of illness benefit recipients, multiple and long-term illness benefit recipients and injury benefit recipients, 2016
     per 1,000 employees
  Illness Benefit Recipients1Multiple Illness Benefit Recipients2Long-term illness Benefit Recipients3Injury Benefit Recipients4
Sex    
 Male55977
 Female10321114
 Total801595
Age    
 15-24 years35635
 25-44 years771575
 45-64 years9417146
Region of Usual Residence    
 Border8616105
 West881795
 Mid-West8816106
 South-East8415105
 South-West8615105
 Dublin661475
 Mid-East801596
 Midlands9318116
Highest Level of Education5    
 No formal education or primary education only10518229
 Secondary education8917127
 Technical, vocational, completed apprenticeship, advanced or higher certificate8817107
 Ordinary or higher bachelor degree, professional qualification or both701453
 Postgraduate diploma, degree or doctorate621142
Socio-Economic Group    
 Employers and managers51962
 Higher professional45831
 Lower professional901863
 Non-manual9018105
 Manual skilled6710911
 Semi-skilled108211310
 Unskilled84141410
 Farmers and agricultural workers58999
 All others gainfully occupied and unknown7114117
1 Employees (usually resident, aged 15-64 years, economic status ‘at work’, employment status ‘employee’ and in PRSI Class A, E, H or P) who made a claim for Illness Benefit in the 12-month period between 25 April 2016 and 24 April 2017 and received at least one weekly payment.
2 Employees who made more than one claim for Illness Benefit in the 12-month period between 25 April 2016 and 24 April 2017 and received at least one weekly payment.
3 Employees who made a claim for Illness Benefit in the 12-month period between 25 April 2016 and 24 April 2017, which lasted for 6 months or longer.
4 Employees (usually resident, aged 15-64 years, 'at work', 'employee' and in PRSI Class A, D or J) who made a claim for Injury Benefit in the 12-month period 25 April 2016 to 24 April 2017 and received at least one weekly payment.
5 Persons whose full-time education has ceased.
Open in Excel: Illness Benefits Employment and Commuting Analysis 2016-2017 Table 1 (XLS 12KB)
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Table 2 Health, disability and carers among illness benefit recipients, multiple and long-term illness benefit recipients and injury benefit recipients, 2016
     per 1,000 employees
  Illness Benefit Recipients1Multiple Illness Benefit Recipients2Long-term illness Benefit Recipients3Injury Benefit Recipients4
General Health    
 Very Good681264
 Good9619127
 Fair14435289
 Bad19655486
 Very Bad1624734…
Disability5    
 All Disabilities12930227
Type of Disability    
 Blindness or vision impairment9821136
 Deafness or a serious hearing impairment11023167
 An intellectual disability501093
 A difficulty with learning, remembering or concentrating8419168
 A difficulty with basic physical activities177414110
 Other disability including chronic illness14837258
 A psychological or emotional condition14039266
Carers    
 Providing unpaid assistance10020117
Carer Hours per Week    
 1-14 hours unpaid help per week9619105
 15-42 hours unpaid help per week10722147
 43 hours or more unpaid help per week1032396
1 Employees (usually resident, aged 15-64 years, economic status ‘at work’, employment status ‘employee’ and in PRSI Class A, E, H or P) who made a claim for Illness Benefit in the 12-month period between 25 April 2016 and 24 April 2017 and received at least one weekly payment.
2 Employees who made more than one claim for Illness Benefit in the 12-month period between 25 April 2016 and 24 April 2017 and received at least one weekly payment.
3 Employees who made a claim for Illness Benefit in the 12-month period between 25 April 2016 and 24 April 2017, which lasted for 6 months or longer.
4 Employees (usually resident, aged 15-64 years, 'at work', 'employee' and in PRSI Class A, D or J) who made a claim for Injury Benefit in the 12-month period 25 April 2016 to 24 April 2017 and received at least one weekly payment.
5 For the purpose of this report a disabled person has been classified as someone who responded 'yes' to any of the seven categories in question 16 of the Census on long-lasting conditions or 'yes' to any of the four categories in question 17 on difficulties.
Open in Excel: Illness Benefits Employment and Commuting Analysis 2016-2017 Table 2 (XLS 12KB)
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Table 3 Profile of commuting behaviour of illness benefit recipient commuters, multiple and long-term illness benefit recipient commuters and injury benefit commuters, 2016
     per 1,000 employees
  Illness Benefit Recipient Commuters1Multiple illness Benefit Recipient Commuters2Long-tern illness Benefit Recipient Commuters3Injury Benefit Recipient Commuters4
Means of Travel to Work    
 On foot631184
 Bicycle44746
 Bus, minibus or coach691584
 Train, DART or Luas541342
 Motor cycle or scooter7814810
 Driving a car911795
 Passenger in a car8617117
 Van59978
 Other, including lorry70101110
 Total821695
Time of Departure for Work    
 Before 06:30101201012
 06:30 - 07:00941898
 07:01 - 07:30901886
 07:31 - 08:00811684
 08:01 - 08:30751473
 08:31 - 09:00731382
 09:01 - 09:306912103
 After 09:307814116
Time Taken to Travel to Work    
 < ¼ hour8415105
 ¼ hour - < ½ hour851696
 ½ hour - < ¾ hour821685
 ¾ hour - < 1 hour801674
 1 hour - < 1½ hours751575
 1½ hours and over721575
Work Destination    
 Dublin701575
 City other than Dublin9518105
 Rest of Ireland8916106
1 Employees (usually resident, aged 15-64 years, economic status ‘at work’, employment status ‘employee’, in PRSI Class A, E, H or P and provided valid commuting data in Census 2016) who made a claim for Illness Benefit in the 12-month period between 25 April 2016 and 24 April 2017 and received at least one weekly payment.
2 Employees who made more than one claim for Illness Benefit in the 12-month period between 25 April 2016 and 24 April 2017, received at least one weekly payment and provided valid commuting data in Census 2016.
3 Employees who made a claim for Illness Benefit in the 12-month period between 25 April 2016 and 24 April 2017, which lasted for 6 months or longer and provided valid commuting data in Census 2016.
4 Employees (usually resident, aged 15-64 years, 'at work', 'employee', in PRSI Class A, D or J and provided valid commuting data in Census 2016) who made a claim for Injury Benefit in the 12-month period 25 April 2016 to 24 April 2017 and received at least one weekly payment.
Open in Excel: Illness Benefits Employment and Commuting Analysis 2016-2017 Table 3 (XLS 12KB)
upArrowHide Table
Table 4 Labour market profile of illness benefit recipients, multiple and long-term illness benefit recipients and injury benefit recipients, 2016
     per 1,000 employees
  Illness Benefit Recipients1Multiple illness Benefit Recipients2Long-term illness Benefit Recipients3Injury Benefit Recipients4
Broad Occupational Group    
 Managers, directors and senior officials52872
 Professional occupations691342
 Associate professional and technical occupations621364
 Administrative and secretarial occupations972392
 Skilled trades occupations61988
 Caring, leisure and other service occupations11724148
 Sales and customer service occupations8715135
 Process, plant and machine operatives102191212
 Elementary occupations8314139
NACE Economic Sector5    
 Agriculture, forestry and fishing52788
 Industry 801496
 Construction40576
 Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles7412116
 Transportation and storage90161013
 Accommodation and food service activities609115
 Information and communication activities38741
 Financial, insurance and real estate activities791772
 Professional, scientific and technical activities40652
 Administrative and support service activities 6110106
 Public administration and defence; compulsory social security1323879
 Education771362
 Human health and social work activities13228127
 Arts, entertainment and recreation54973
 Other6811113
Gross Pay (2015)6    
 €10,000-€19,9998114146
 €20,000-€29,9999117107
 €30,000-€39,9991032287
 €40,000-€49,9991032176
 €50,000-€59,999971966
 €60,000-€69,999751445
 €70,000 and above43742
1 Employees (usually resident, aged 15-64 years, economic status ‘at work’, employment status ‘employee’ and in PRSI Class A, E, H or P) who made a claim for Illness Benefit in the 12-month period between 25 April 2016 and 24 April 2017 and received at least one weekly payment.
2 Employees who made more than one claim for Illness Benefit in the 12-month period between 25 April 2016 and 24 April 2017 and received at least one weekly payment.
3 Employees who made a claim for Illness Benefit in the 12-month period between 25 April 2016 and 24 April 2017, which lasted for 6 months or longer.
4 Employees (usually resident, aged 15-64 years, 'at work', 'employee' and in PRSI Class A, D or J) who made a claim for Injury Benefit in the 12-month period 25 April 2016 to 24 April 2017 and received at least one weekly payment.
5 The sector of economic activity that a person works in, based on NACE, the general industrial classification of economic activities used within the EU. The current version is NACE Rev. 2.
6 Gross Pay (for USC purposes) is gross pay before deductions of any kind, and should include the notional value of any benefit-in-kind. Gross pay for 2015 is used as an Illness Benefit recipient's gross pay in 2016 or 2017 would be influenced by their time in receipt of Illness Benefit.
Open in Excel: Illness Benefits Employment and Commuting Analysis 2016-2017 Table 4 (XLS 13KB)
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Background Notes

This release presents statistics on the employment and commuting characteristics of people in receipt of illness benefit and injury benefit over the period April 2016 to April 2017, based on a combination of administrative data sources and Census 2016 data. Analysis is limited to persons who made a claim and also received at least one weekly payment of illness benefit from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection.

Illness benefit

Illness benefit is a scheme to support an employee if they cannot work in the short term because they are sick or ill. Details of the illness benefit scheme can be found at the following link; https://www.gov.ie/en/service/ddf6e3-illness-benefit/ 

Multiple illness benefit

An employee is deemed to have multiple illness benefits if they had more than one illness benefit claim during the period of analysis. 

Long-term illness benefit

An employee is deemed to be in receipt of long-term illness benefit if their illness benefit claim lasted for six months or longer. 

Injury benefit

The Occupational Injuries Scheme provides benefits for people injured or incapacitated by an accident at work or while travelling directly to or from work. The scheme also covers people who have contracted a disease as a result of the type of work they do. This research analyses injury benefit only from the Occupational Injuries Scheme.

Methodology

The results presented in this release are based on a data-matching exercise of the following administrative data sources:

  • Person Income Register, PIR (CSO)
  • Pseudonymised Census of Population, 2016 (CSO)
  • Business Object Model implementation, BOMi (Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, DEASP)
  • Central Records System, CRS (DEASP)

The linkage and analysis was undertaken by the CSO for statistical purposes in line with the Statistics Act, 1993 and the CSO Data Protocol.

Before using personal administrative data for statistical purposes, the CSO removes all identifying personal information, including the Personal Public Service Number (PPSN). The PPSN is a unique number that enables individuals to access social welfare benefits, personal taxation and other public services in Ireland. The CSO converts the PPSN to a Protected Identifier Key (PIK). The PIK is a unique and non-identifiable number which is internal to the CSO. Using the PIK enables the CSO to link and analyse data for statistical purposes, while protecting the security and confidentiality of an individual's data. PIR, CRS and CSO records were linked using the PIK for this project. All records in the datasets are anonymised and the results are in the form of statistical aggregates which do not identify any individuals. 

Data sources

Person Income Register (PIR)

The PIR is a pseudonymised income register held internally within the CSO. It contains information on income received by individuals relating to employment, self-employment and social transfers. It is derived from administrative holdings held by the Revenue Commissioners and Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. Therefore, the PIR provides a near complete picture on individual-level income, for a calendar year.  All linkage is carried out using a PIK assigned on each contributing data source. The PIK is then used to link the pseudonymised data sources together to create the PIR. The PIK protects a person’s identity but also enables linking across data sources and over time. The PIK enables high quality deterministic matching thus significantly reducing/eliminating linkage error. PIR is valid up to 2018.

Census of Population Analysis (COPA) 

The COPA is a pseudonymised copy of the Census of Population 2016 dataset held internally within the CSO for analysis purposes. It contains Census attribute information for individuals and households of which 95% of records have a PIK which allows them to be linked to pseudonymised administrative data sources to create new analysis. 

Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP)

The BOMi dataset provides additional payment details of illness benefits. The Central Records System (CRS) of the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection provides information on age, gender and family relationships. Using a unique identifier (PIK), each employee in the PIR dataset can be linked to their individual demographic characteristics on the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection Datasets.

Target populations

Persons of working age (15-64 years), usually resident in the Republic of Ireland, with a principal economic status of 'at work', an employment status of 'employee' and in PRSI Class A, E, H or P (eligible classes for Illness Benefit). When examining injury benefit the analysis is limited to those in PRSI Class A, D or J (eligible classes for injury benefit).

Target populations

2016/2017

Target female population 

708,474

Target male population

679,173

NACE Rev.2 Classification

The economic sector classification (NACE) is based on the ‘Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community, Rev. 2 (2008)'

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ramon/nomenclatures/index.cfm?TargetUrl=LST_NOM_DTL&StrNom=NACE_REV2

 

Occupations

The Occupation classification used here and in Census 2016, is based on the UK Standard Occupational Classification (SOC), with modifications to reflect Irish labour market conditions. 

https://www.ons.gov.uk/methodology/classificationsandstandards/standardoccupationalclassificationsoc

 

Socio-economic group

In Census 2016, the entire population was classified to one of ten specific socio-economic groups (introduced in 1996). In addition, a residual group entitled. “All others gainfully occupied and unknown” was used where sufficient details were not provided. The classification aimed to bring together persons with similar social and economic statuses on the basis of the level of skill or educational attainment acquired. In defining socio-economic group no attempt is made to rank groups in order of socio-economic importance.

The socio-economic group of persons aged 15 years or over who are at work was determined by their occupation and employment status. Unemployed or retired persons aged 15 years or over are classified according to their former occupation and employment status.

Persons looking after the home/family or at school/ college, who were members of a family unit, were classified to the socio-economic group of another person in the family unit using a priority table based on the relationships within the family. Thus, if the reference person1 of a family was at work, unemployed or retired, other persons were assigned to his/her socio-economic group. If the reference person was neither at work, unemployed nor retired, they were assigned to the socio-economic group of the other parent, spouse or cohabiting partner in the family unit. If there was no such spouse or partner or if the spouse, in turn, was neither at work, unemployed or retired, they were assigned to the socio-economic group of a working son/daughter. If there were no persons in the family unit with a socio-economic group, then they were assigned to the unknown socio-economic group. Other persons looking after the home/family or at school/college who were not members of a family unit, such as relatives of the reference person (e.g. widowed grandparents, etc.) were assigned a socio-economic group using the above method. Unrelated persons or persons living alone who are looking after the home/family or at school/college were assigned to the unknown group.

The socio-economic groups used in the census are as follows:

A Employers and managers

B Higher professional

C Lower professional

D Non-manual

E Manual skilled

F Semi-skilled

G Unskilled

H Own account workers

I Farmers

J Agricultural workers

Z All others gainfully occupied and unknown 

1The reference person in each private household is the first person identified as a parent, spouse or cohabiting partner in the first family in the household. Where no person in the household satisfies these criteria, the first usually resident person is used as the reference person.

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information@cso.ie

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