The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (05 December 2023) released Census 2022 Profile 7 – Employment, Occupations and Commuting. This press release highlights some of the main results for Leitrim. A full list of county press releases is available.
| Kathleen Goulding | (+353) 1 895 1413 |
|---|---|
| Tony Downes | (+353) 1 895 1319 |
| censuspublicity@cso.ie | |
| pressoffice@cso.ie |
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Statistician's Comment
Commenting on the results, Dr. Tracy Clegg, Statistician in the Census Division, said: “Profile 7 covers the topics of Employment, Unemployment and Commuting providing statistics, analysis and data tables. The report looks at people at work or unemployed, occupations and industrial sectors as well as the commuting patterns of workers, students and children in school or childcare. New for Census 2022 are the additional topics of commuting to childcare and time leaving workplace, school, college or childcare giving more rounded information on travelling patterns as well as information on working from home.”
Some highlights for Leitrim
People at Work/Unemployed
More than 28,000 people living in the county in April 2022 were aged 15 and over and of these over 14,800 people were at work. This was an increase of 16% (from the more than 12,700 people recorded as working in Census 2016). Nationally there were 2.3 million people at work in April 2022, which was up by 16%.
More than 1,500 people were unemployed in the county in April 2022. This was considerably lower than the 2016 figure of almost 2,200 people (a decrease of 30%). The unemployment rate was 9% compared with 15% in 2016. Nationally there were almost 211,000 people unemployed compared with over 297,000 in Census 2016.
There were almost 5,600 retired people in Leitrim, up 23% since Census 2016. There was a 14% increase in the number of people who were unable to work due to permanent sickness or disability to 1,387 people. The number of people looking after their home/family fell by 14% to almost 1,800.
The labour force participation rate was 58% in Leitrim compared with 61% nationally. Among females the rate was 54% while for males it was 63%. Nationally the trend was similar at 56% for female labour force participation and 67% for males.
Most people in work in Leitrim were in full-time employment, with more than 11,000 people in this category, compared with over 2,400 who were working part-time.
Where people worked
Human Health and Social Work Activities accounted for the largest number of workers in the county at almost 1,900. The Wholesale and Retail Trade sector was the next largest, with just over 1,700 workers followed by Manufacturing with more than 1,600 workers.
Working From Home
A new question was included in Census 2022 asking people whether they ever worked from home and if so, for how many days per week. There were more than 14,800 people at work in Leitrim in April 2022. Of these, over 9,200 never worked from home while almost 4,100 people worked from home at least some of the time. Of those working from home, more than 1,000 people did so for five days per week, with 752 doing so for one day and 662 for two days each week.
Travelling to Work
There were 13,175 people travelling to work in the county in April 2022. The majority of these drove to work, with 9,137 people driving to work by car in 2022. There were 133 people travelling by bus and 62 by train. Looking at active travel, 686 people walked to work, down from 697 in 2016, while 77 people cycled, an increase of 27 people since 2016.
Commuters in the county were travelling for longer in April 2022, with an average journey time of 30 minutes compared with 27.4 minutes in 2016. Nationally, the average journey time increased from 28.2 minutes to 29.1 minutes between 2016 and 2022. There were 3,341 Leitrim commuters who had a journey time of less than 15 minutes, while 3,524 people had a journey time of 15 to 30 minutes. A further 1,529 people had a journey time of 60 minutes and over.
Travelling to School, College or Childcare
In Leitrim, almost 1,300 children aged under 5 travelled to childcare or school. Most of these (nearly 1,100) travelled by car, while 89 walked and 13 went by bus.
Most of the 3,944 primary school aged children (5 to 12 years old) travelling to school in the county in April 2022 also travelled by car, with 2,311 doing so. Using a bus was the second most common means of travel at 782 children. A further 557 children walked while 22 children cycled.
Of the 2,731 secondary students (those aged 13-18 years) travelling to school, 1,256 were driven to school in a car, while 55 drove themselves to school. There were 910 students using a bus, and 14 using the train. A further 367 students walked to school while 11 cycled.
For the 1,028 third-level students commuting, driving was the most popular means of travel, at 375 people. There were 192 students who walked, while 143 used a bus. Another 64 students travelled by train, DART or Luas while 14 cycled.