21 October 2021
Go to release: Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2021: Part 2 Business and Economy
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (21 October 2021) published The Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2021: Part 2 Business and Economy.
This year the CSO has split the Yearbook into three parts to make it easier for people to find the information they are looking for. These three parts are: Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2021: Part 1 People and Society published yesterday (20 October 2021); Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2021: Part 2 Business and Economy published today (21 October 2021); and Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2021: Part 3 Travel, Agriculture, Environment and COVID-19, which will be published tomorrow (22 October 2021).
Today’s Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2021: Part 2 Business and Economy presents a comprehensive picture of business in Ireland and the economy, based on statistics published by the CSO throughout the year. Many of these statistics are based on information provided by the thousands of people around the country who have completed our surveys and we thank them for their input and look forward to the continued support of all our Household and Business Surveys. The CSO can compile such comprehensive reports…Because You Told Us.
Highlights
CSO surveys and analysis are used to look at many facets of Irish society. When it comes to Internet Usage by Enterprise more than half (51%) of enterprises in Ireland indicated they purchased at least one type of Cloud Computing service in 2020. This compares to 45% of enterprises surveyed in 2018. The most popular service purchased was the storage of files.
In terms of Services, the annual value of the monthly services decreased in 2020 by 7.5% since 2019. Information & Communication was the only sector which increased between 2019 and 2020 (+7.6%). The largest annual decrease between 2019 and 2020 occurred in the Accommodation & Food Service Activities sector (-50.2%).
Looking at Industry, the number of persons engaged in Industrial Production in Ireland in 2019 increased by 5.5% to 264,398 and turnover in the Industrial sector increased 7.2% to €287.7 billion in 2019.
Housing statistics are a key part of the CSO’s work, and our surveys and analysis have found that in 2020 more apartments than houses were granted planning permission. Planning Permissions were granted for 26,224 apartments in 2020, compared with 19,591 in 2019, an increase of almost 34%. Over the period 2010 to 2020, the number of new houses granted permission increased by almost 58% and the number of new apartments granted permission increased by almost 282%.
In 2011 and 2012, almost two-thirds (63% in 2012) of all New Dwelling Completions were rural. From 2014 to 2020, more than half of all new dwelling completions are urban (almost 54% in 2014). Since 2018, close to four-fifths of all new dwelling completions are urban (just over 79% in 2020).
In 2020, the Local Electoral Area with the most new dwelling completions was Donaghmede in Dublin where there were 590 completions. The next highest was 500 in Tallaght South. All of the top ten Local Electoral Areas with the most new dwelling completions are in Dublin, Meath or Wicklow. Outside of these three counties the highest area was Dundalk South with 278 completions and Cork City South West with 277.
The CSO’s Residential Property Price Index notes the Eircode area with the highest median price for household dwelling purchases in 2020 was A94 'Blackrock' (€615,000). The ten most expensive Eircode areas by median price in 2020 were in Dublin. Outside Dublin, the most expensive Eircode area in 2020 was A63 'Greystones', with a median price of €450,000. The least expensive Eircode area in 2020 was F45 'Castlerea', with a median price of €77,500.
Figures from the section on Indices of Production in all Building & Construction show the output in total building and construction decreased by 7.8% in 2020 when compared with 2019. Between 2010 and 2020, the volume of output in building and construction increased by 38.9%.
The chapter on Business in Ireland shows that in 2018, the business economy here was worth €794.8 billion, employed 1,678,695 persons and had 290,078 enterprises.
The Services sector had a turnover of €254.5 billion and dominated employment figures with 803,147 persons employed while the business sectors with the lowest number of persons employed in 2018 were Construction with 144,521 and the Financial & Insurance sector, which includes banking, with 105,424 persons employed.
The average spend on wages and salaries per employee in 2018 in Small & Medium enterprises was €31,247 and in large enterprises, which employ 250 or more persons, the average spend on wages and salaries per employee was €45,320.
Foreign multinationals in Ireland in 2018 employed 403,536 persons and generated €478.8 billion in turnover. In the same year Irish multinationals abroad had turnover of €232.6 billion, with US and UK affiliates accounting for 57.3% of this.
Looking at the core numbers in our economy, the National Accounts data shows that
Multinational Enterprise (MNE) dominated sectors of the economy showed positive growth in 2020. Industry excluding Construction increased by 22.1% while Information & Communication grew by 13.8%. However, Distribution, Transport, Hotels & Restaurants declined by 19.3%, Construction by 10.2%, Professional, Administration & Support Services by 9.4% and Financial & Insurance activities by 8.6%.
Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE), which is a measure of consumer spending on goods and services, declined overall by 10.4% in 2020. Household expenditure on Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages increased from €8.8bn in 2019 to almost €9bn in 2020 while alcoholic beverages (purchased for consumption at home) increased from €2.2bn in 2019 to almost €2.7bn in 2021. Perhaps reflecting the changing levels of societal restrictions, Household expenditure on Hotels & Restaurants decreased from €16.2bn in 2019 to €9.8bn in 2020.
In International Accounts, the largest categories of services exports in 2020 were computer services (€134.2bn) and business services (€48.2bn), while the largest categories of service imports were business services (€173.7bn) due to high Research & Development related Intellectual Property imports (€104.2bn) and royalties (€84.4bn).
In 2020 total exports of merchandise and services amounted to €488.9bn. The top three countries accounted for 39.8% of exports. The largest trading partner for exports was United States (€98.3bn) followed by exports to United Kingdom of €55.3bn and exports to Germany of €40.9bn.
In 2020, total imports of merchandise and services amounted to €405.8bn. The top two countries accounted for just over 49% of imports. The largest trading partner for imports was United States (€155.7bn); followed by imports from United Kingdom (€44bn).
The year 2020 represented the highest level of exports on record. As outlined in the Trade chapter, between 1975 and 2020 the value of goods exported rose from €1,838 million to €161,988 million. The value of imports rose from €2,164 million to €87,014 million.
Exports to Great Britain were €12,222 million in 2020. The value of exports to Great Britain has decreased by €2,114 million since 2017, with the share of total exports from Great Britain falling from 12% to 8%. The single largest supplier of goods to Ireland was Great Britain, from which €17,662 million, or 20% of all goods, was imported. Imports from the USA were €13,476 million in 2020, a decrease of €3,615 million since 2017.
When it comes to Prices, the ‘old reliables’ of fuel, cigarettes and alcohol have seen an increase. From 2010 to 2020, the national average price for unleaded petrol increased by 4.6%, from €1.31 to €1.37 per litre, peaking in 2012 at €1.63 per litre. The corresponding national average price for diesel increased by 3.3%, from €1.23 to €1.27 per litre, also peaking in 2012 at €1.56 per litre
The average price for a pint of stout in a bar has increased by just over 21% from €3.96 in 2010 to €4.80 in 2020 while the national average price of a 20 pack of cigarettes has steadily risen from €8.42 in 2010 to €13.44 in 2020, an increase of almost 60%.
The average price of the potato has also increased between 2010 and 2020 from €3.26 to €3.56 for a 2.5 kg bag, or just over 9%.
The Earnings and Labour Costs data reveals that average weekly Earnings increased by 7.7% to €847.21 in Q4 2020. This represents average earnings of those remaining in employment in the Irish economy in Q4 2020, including those supported by the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS).
Supplementary analysis based on Revenue's employee level tax data showed that between Q3 and Q4 2020, average weekly earnings increased by 8.1% across all employments. The largest rate of increase was recorded in the Professional, Scientific & Technical Activities sector (25.8%), while the smallest rate of increase was seen in the Accommodation & Food Services sector at 0.2%.
In Q4 2020, 16.5% of active employments were directly supported by the EWSS. The sectors with the highest proportion of employments supported by the EWSS were Accommodation & Food Services (72.5%), Arts, Entertainment, Recreation & Other Service activities (42.9%) and Transportation & Storage (34.9%).
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