Census results summary 2 revealed there was an increase of 199,281 workers in 2016 compared with 2011. Figure 2.1 shows those industries with the largest increases and decreases over the five years. Using the NACE REV2 classification workers are classified into 153 different industries - the full table is available in the StatBank link below - see Appendix 3 for more details. 

IT activities (computer programming, consultancy and related services) showed the largest increase rising by almost 56 per cent (21,262 persons) to reach 59,376 in 2016. This was followed by residential care and social work activities which showed a 24 per cent rise from almost 82,900 to nearly 102,700. The largest decreases were in financial service activities (except insurance and pension funding), down from 54,027 to 46,674 in 2016 and in Public Administration, down nearly 5,000 to 83,687. The large increase in persons working in restaurant and food services (up over 10,000) contrasts with a decline in persons working in the retail sale of food and beverages (down over 3,000).

StatBank Link EB031

Most common occupations in 2016

As reported above the number of people at work increased by 11.0 per cent (199,281) between 2011 and 2016, rising from 1,807,360 to 2,006,641.

Using the SOC2010 classification (4 digit - see Appendix 4 for more details), Table 2.2 lists the most common occupations among the work force in 2016. Workers are classified to 328 separate categories and the full list is available in the statbank link below. The category sales and retail assistants, cashiers and checkout operators was the top occupational group with 90,746 persons. Although the largest in numbers, these workers still only represented 4.5 per cent of those at work which indicated the diversity among the different professions in modern Ireland.

'Farmers' was the next largest occupation group accounting for 3.5 per cent of the work force with 69,375 workers, followed by the category other administrative occupations with 59,392 workers. This group includes administrative assistants, clerks and office administrators, and represented 3.0 per cent of the work force.

StatBank Link EB065

Occupations recording largest increase

The occupational group, other administrative occupations, was not only the third largest occupation group in 2016, it also recorded the largest growth (25.1%) between 2011 and 2016, rising from 47,465 to 59,392 workers over the five years.

This was followed by programmers and software development professionals, growing 51.9 per cent since 2011 to reach 20,113 workers in 2016. The number of professionals in the category chemical and related process operatives grew by 6,714 workers, from 10,057 in 2011 to 16,771 in 2016.

Care workers and home carers grew by 5,861 workers between 2011 and 2016, with 44,605 persons in this occupation group in 2016.

Occupations recording largest decline

Functional managers and directors (not elsewhere classified) showed the biggest fall, followed by bank and post office clerks which fell by 19 per cent (4,159 persons) between 2011 and 2016.

The number of farmers at work declined of 5.2 per cent from 73,146 in 2011 to 69,375 in 2016. The only other occupation to record a fall greater than 3,000 over the inter-censal period was assemblers (vehicles and metal goods), falling by 3,171 to 4,754 workers in 2016.

Social class and unemployment

The entire population is classified into one of seven social class groups, ranked on the basis of occupation. In April 2016 there continued to be significant variation in unemployment rates across social classes. All social classes saw a reduction in the unemployment rate, with the largest reduction seen in skilled manual workers, whose rate halved from 26.9 per cent in 2011 to 13.4 per cent in 2016. These workers are likely to have worked in jobs related to the construction sector. One fifth of unskilled workers were unemployed, down from almost a third in 2011. For professional workers, the unemployment rate was 3.3 per cent, down from 6 per cent in 2011.

Social class and youth unemployment

Overall youth unemployment, in those aged 15-24, was almost twice the national average at 25.6 per cent. However, again this varied by social class with the rate for professional workers at 8.8 per cent, down from 15.9 in 2011.

In the largest category, non-manual workers, 5,426 young people were out of work, with an unemployment rate of 12.8 per cent, down from 21.7 per cent in 2011. But the highest rate of unemployment was in the unskilled category at 21.2 per cent.

Social class and labour force participation

Labour force participation also varied by social class and was highest for semi-skilled workers at 70.2 per cent, followed closely by professional workers (70.1%), whereas the participation rate for unskilled workers was 59.6 per cent.

Social-economic group and unemployment

Socio-economic group classifies the population into one of ten categories based on the skill and educational attainment of their current or former occupation. In 2016, higher professionals were the socio-economic group with the lowest unemployment rate (3.3%), followed closely by farmers (3.5%), reversing their positions from 2011. Lower professionals had a 4.3 per cent unemployment rate, whereas among skilled manual workers the rate was 15.9 per cent, with unskilled workers having a 21.2 per cent rate.

Men and women

There was little difference in the unemployment rates of men and women in the SEG groups of ‘Employers and Managers’ and ‘Higher professionals’. However, a number of categories showed pronounced variances. Just over fifteen per cent (15.5%) of male manual skilled workers were unemployed, compared with 24.9 per cent of women. The opposite is true for unskilled workers, where a quarter of the men were unemployed, compared with 15 per cent of the women. Eight in ten unemployed farmers were male with a 3.1 per cent unemployment rate while the unemployment rate of the remaining one fifth of farmers who were female was 7.4 per cent.