County Incomes and Regional GDP 2020

To understand where income is generated, we must look at regional employment figures. The main driver of county income will always be wages and salaries for employees or profits for self-employed, in that respect, we anticipate a strong correlation between the total number of people employed and the disposable income in any one county. This is clearly seen in Figure 2.1 where a clear relationship is seen between the ratio of disposable income and numbers at work. It is also unsurprising that the counties with largest total disposable incomes are the same counties with largest concentration of workers i.e., Dublin City and County followed by Cork City and County. Both counties are distinct outliers with respect to employment and income when compared against the rest of the country.

All cities perform well in terms of total disposable income and place in the top four performing counties. Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick rank in that order in both total disposable income and total numbers employed. Waterford is the exception which ranks 14th in total disposable income and 12th in total numbers employed.

As observed in Figure 2.1, three main groups emerge with regards income and employment. Dublin and Cork are the significant outliers, followed by Galway, Kildare and Limerick. The third cluster is formed by the remainder of the country, total employment in each of these counties is under 3% of the national total, as seen in Map 2.1.

Dublin City and County, South-West and Mid-East NUTS 3 regions have the highest numbers of workers in the state, as observed in Figure 2.2. Dublin has seen strong year-on-year growth in employment with the exception of 2020 where an annual decline of 4.1% is seen due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Decreases in numbers employed have been observed in all other NUTS 3 regions in 2020 with the exception of the Midlands. The Border region saw a 6.8% decline in numbers employed from 2019 to 2020, it was the only other region that saw a greater percentage change decrease than Dublin. The South-East and Mid-East observed 1.9% and 3.6% decline in total employment respectively for 2020. The South-West has the lowest percentage change in numbers employed with a decrease of 0.7%.

Significant growth in employment in all NUTS 3 regions from 2012 to 2020 is seen in Figure 2.2. Growth has largely been concentrated in Dublin city and county which has seen a 135,768 increase in numbers working since 2012, followed by the Mid-East region which has seen an increase of 52,702 and the South-West region with an increase of 43,475. When compared against all other regions, Dublin accounts for 36.2% of all growth seen nationally.

The county level density of workers in the state is shown in Map 2.1. Under a third (30%) of all persons employed in the state work in Dublin city and county, followed by Cork city and county which account for 12% of all persons employed. The highest proportion of workers reside in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Kildare in that order. Cities in Ireland have the highest proportion of workers due to higher populations and the fact they attract workers from surrounding counties. Conversely, counties in the Midland and Border regions have the lowest percentage of employed people in the state due to low populations and lack of industry in these regions.