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.
On an annual basis, the seasonally adjusted employee index rose by 2.2% in the 12 months to February 2024.
The employee index for males rose by 1.9%, while the employee index for females increased by 2.3% over the same period.
The seasonally adjusted employee index rose by 0.1% in the month to February 2024.
The 65 years and over age group saw the largest rise in the monthly index to February 2024 (+0.9%).
The NACE sector with the largest monthly rise in February 2024 was Administrative & Support Service Activities (+0.6%), followed by Public Administration & Defence, and Human Health & Social Work Activities, (both +0.5%). The largest monthly decrease was in the Accommodation & Food Service Activities (-0.6%).
In the 12 months to February 2024, the Transportation & Storage sector saw the largest rise in the number of employees (+5.8%).
The Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data release is a very short time series (just under 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 2023. 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. All figures for monthly percentage change and annual percentage change are calculated prior to the input data being rounded.
| 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 |
| February 2023 | 2,413,100 | 112.0 | 0.2 | 4.3 |
| January 2024 | 2,461,500 | 114.3 | 0.3 | 2.2 |
| February 2024 | 2,465,200 | 114.5 | 0.1 | 2.2 |
The seasonally adjusted index increased by 2.2% in February 2024 when compared with February 2023. March 2021 was the last month to show a negative annual change (-10.9%) in the employee index.
On an annual basis, the female index grew by 2.3% while the male index rose by 1.9%. On a monthly basis both the female and male indices rose by 0.2% in February 2024.
With the exception of the 15-19 years age category (-1.8%), all age groups saw annual increases in the employee index. The age group with the largest annual rise in employees was 65 years and over (+9.6%) followed by those aged 60-64 years (+5.4%).
Most economic sectors showed an annual increase in the employee index when compared with February 2023. The sectors showing the largest annual increases were Transportation & Storage (+5.8%), and Human Health & Social Work Activities (+5.7%). The largest decreases were recorded in Services (T, U) (-6.5%) and Information & Communication (-3.4%).
Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (16 April 2024) released Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data, February 2024.
Commenting on the release, Aoife McHugh, Statistician in the Labour Market & Earnings Division, said:
“Ten NACE sectors saw a monthly increase in the numbers employed in February 2024, three sectors decreased, while two saw no change. The largest monthly fall was in Accommodation & Food Service Activities (-0.6%), while the largest monthly rise was seen in the Administrative & Support Services Activities sector, which was up by 0.6%.
The 65 years and over age group saw the largest increase (+0.9%) in employment in the month to February 2024. All age groups observed monthly employment growth, apart from the 15-19 years age group which observed no change.
On an annual basis, the seasonally adjusted index rose by 2.2% over the full year from February 2023 to February 2024.”
Data from this publication 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.