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This new CSO report, ‘Economic Life and COVID-19 in Ireland, 2020-2021’, provides an economic overview of the impacts of the pandemic on citizens and enterprises, compared to the time period immediately before COVID-19 arrived in Ireland. These statistics are based on a range of CSO surveys, publications, and data sources:
Labour Force Survey (LFS): The Labour Force Survey (LFS) replaced the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) at the beginning of Q3 2017. The purpose of the survey is the production of quarterly labour force estimates and occasional reports on special social topics. Information is collected continuously from households who are surveyed every week in each quarter. The QNHS operated on a seasonal quarter basis from when it started in Q4 1997 up to and including Q4 2008. In Q1 2009, the QNHS adopted a calendar quarter basis and this has been continued in the LFS.
The reference quarters for survey results are:
Q1 - January to March, Q2 - April to June, Q3 - July to September and Q4 - October to December
More information on the LFS and the most recent release can be found here.
Live Register: The Live Register is compiled from returns made for each local office to the Central Statistics Office by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP). It comprises of persons under 65 years of age in the following classes:
The Live Register excludes those claimants on Jobseeker schemes who are 65 years of age and over. There was no change to this exclusion criterion with the removal of the State Pension (Transition) Scheme from 1st January 2014. Persons aged 65 years can remain on a Jobseeker scheme up to their next birthday but are not included in the Live Register.
More information on the Live Register and the most recent release can be found here.
Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS): The Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) was a scheme that was set up by the Government in response to the loss of income for those whose employment was affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland. It was administered by the Revenue Commissioners who provided details on payments made under the scheme to the CSO. Refunds were issued to employers registered under the scheme, who in turn paid their employees. Payments under the scheme commenced on the week ending 22 March 2020 and the scheme was closed at the end of August 2020. The TWSS data in this output reflects the estimated number of persons being supported by the scheme in each week. This estimate is calculated by filling in previous weeks using pay frequency as an indicator. For example; if someone is paid monthly and received a payment in Week 20 of 2020, they would be estimated to be covered by the scheme for weeks 16 to 20.
It should be noted that these statistics represent all claims made under the TWSS while it was operational. Some employers have refunded TWSS subsidies to the State but the CSO don’t have access to that data to take account of any refunds made in the aggregates we publish.
More detailed information relating to the TWSS can be accessed here: Revenue TWSS Index
Employer Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS): The TWSS was replaced by the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) from 01 September 2020. There were a small number of EWSS claims in July and August 2020 in respect of newly hired or seasonally hired employees who were ineligible for the TWSS. EWSS estimates are compiled from returns made to the CSO by the Revenue Commissioners.
The EWSS is an economy-wide enterprise support that focuses primarily on business eligibility. The scheme provides a flat-rate subsidy to qualifying employers based on the numbers of eligible employees on the employer’s payroll and gross pay to employees.
Like the TWSS, the availability of EWSS data depends on an employee’s pay frequency which could be weekly, fortnightly, every four weeks or monthly. Because of these differing pay frequencies, and the time it takes for employers to lodge payslip data with the Revenue Commissioners before it is made available to the CSO for dissemination purposes, there is a lag on the availability of the EWSS estimates in the same way there was last year for the TWSS estimates published by the CSO.
The EWSS data in this output reflect the estimated number of persons being directly supported by the scheme in each week, i.e. their employer is in receipt of an EWSS subsidy in respect of that employee. For non-weekly paid employees, the “supported by” estimate is calculated by filling in previous weeks using pay frequency as an indicator. For example; if someone is paid monthly and received a payment on week 10 of 2021, they would be estimated to be covered by the scheme for weeks 6 to 10.
Users should note that the EWSS estimates will be subject to revision as the CSO receive more up to date data relating to the scheme, with more recent weeks likely to be subject to larger revisions. Individuals are counted in these tables if there is a record of them in receipt of EWSS. This may give rise to a slight over count of individuals receiving EWSS due to deletions and amendments. Users should recognise that some employers may lose eligibility to the scheme and may have to repay subsidies received.
More detailed information relating to the EWSS can be accessed here: Revenue EWSS Index
Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP): The Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) is a scheme set up by the Government in response to the loss of income for those whose employment had been affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland. The PUP is administered by the Department of Social Protection (DSP) who provide details of payments made under this scheme to the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on a weekly basis. Payments under the PUP scheme commenced during the week ending 22 March 2020.
It should be noted that DSP has been paying arrears to recipients of the PUP, to account for the movement of people in and out of employment. The first arrears payment occurred on 01 December 2020. All arrears payments are processed as the data is received from DSP and the payments are included in the week of the entitlement period, rather than the week of payment. For this reason, the PUP estimates for previous weeks will be subject to revision while the scheme remains open.
Information on qualifying criteria, rates of payment and other information can be accessed here: COVID 19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment
Earnings, Hours and Employment Costs Survey (EHECS): The purpose of the EHECS is to collect, compile and disseminate series of quarterly and annual earnings and labour costs statistics across economic sectors in Ireland. The output produced nationally from the EHECS is the quarterly and annual Earnings and Labour Costs Release, while EHECS also produces data for Eurostat’s Labour Costs Survey, Labour Cost Index, Job Vacancy Survey and Short-term Labour Market Business Statistics.
More information on the EHECS and the most recent Earnings and Labour Costs (ELC) release can be found here.
Labour Market Insight Bulletin Series: In the context of the EHECS and the Earnings & Labour Costs (ELC) release, the Earnings and Labour Market Analysis area of the CSO also produce a series of outputs called the Labour Market Insight Bulletin series designed to provide high-level, supplementary labour market analysis to users alongside the standard labour market outputs and metrics. The data used is sourced from administrative datasets, namely Revenue's employee level tax data, which includes information in relation to the EWSS, as well as data provided from Revenue in relation to the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS). The most recent bulletin (Series 8) is specifically designed to complement the standard ELC results for Q2 2021.
National Income and Expenditure (NIE) 2020: The NIE publication contains the first detailed results of the main National Accounts aggregates and their components for 2020. The estimates for the most recent years, especially 2020, are based on provisional indicators for the different aggregates and are subject to revision. This release is published by the CSO’s National Account – Integration and LCU division.
National accounts are compiled in the EU according to the European System of National and Regional Accounts (ESA) framework. ESA 2010 is the European version of the current UN mandated international standards for national accounts statistics, the System of National Accounts (SNA) 2008. The results for all years in this release are published on an ESA 2010 basis.
The latest NIE publication can be found here.
Retail Sales Index: The seasonally adjusted retail sales volume and value indices are produced by the CSO’s Business Statistics – Data Collection and Services Outputs division on a monthly basis. These indices are compiled based on responses to the ‘Monthly Retail Sales Inquiry’ survey. The Retail Sales Index covers, on a matched sample basis, the retail sales of retail businesses, wholesale businesses with sizeable retailing activity, and the separate sales establishments of non-distribution enterprises. For the purposes of this report, the seasonally adjusted monthly retail sales index has been aggregated to form quarterly figures by taking a simple average of the relevant three months.
More information on the Retail Sales Index and the most recent release can be found here.
New Vehicles Licensed: The CSO's Agriculture, Transport and Tourism division publishes vehicle licensing figures monthly. These figures are compiled from data supplied by the Driver and Vehicle Computer Services Division of the Department of Transport.
More information on the vehicle licensing statistics and the most recent release can be found here.
Residential Property Price Index: The Residential Property Price Index (RPPI) is compiled by the CSO's Prices division and published monthly, with the principal data source used being stamp duty returns made to the Revenue Commissioners. The data collected includes the address of the property and the sales price. For the purpose of this report, the monthly index and sub-indices are converted to quarterly by calculating a simple average of the relevant three months.
More information on the RPPI and the most recent release can be found here.
Consumer Price Index: The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is designed to measure the change in the average level of prices (inclusive of all indirect taxes) paid for consumer goods and services by all private and institutional households in the country and by foreign tourists in Ireland. The CPI is compiled by the CSO's Prices division, based on approximately 51,000 prices which are collected to form a representative basket consisting of 615 item headings, and released on a monthly basis. For the purposes of this report, monthly indices are converted to a quarterly series by taking a simple average of the relevant three months.
More information on the CPI and the most recent release can be found here.
Irish Industrial Production by Sector: Data for this survey is collected under the name of PRODCOM, but is currently published under the title of Irish Industrial Production by Sector. This is an annual survey of the value and volume of products produced by industrial enterprises in Ireland and sold during the reference year. It is carried out in compliance with the European Community (EC) Council Regulation on the Establishment of a Community Survey of Industrial Production (No. 3924/91). The results are presented using a harmonized EU product classification called PRODCOM. The title comes from the French term “PRODuction COMmunautaire” (Community Production).
The survey covers all industrial enterprises with three or more persons engaged which are wholly or primarily engaged in industrial production and industrial services in the Mining, Quarrying and Manufacturing industries. The survey does not cover the following sectors and products:
More information on the Irish Industrial Production by Sector release can be found here.
Agricultural Price Indices: The agricultural output price indices, published by the CSO’s Prices division, are intended to measure trends in the price of agricultural produce sold by farmers, while the agricultural input price indices are designed to measure trends in the price of farm inputs purchased for current consumption. Both indices are compiled on the average farm concept. The average farm concept includes both sales to other economic sectors as well as sales/purchases of agricultural output between agricultural units for intermediate consumption purposes, excluding trade in animals between agricultural units.
More information on the Agricultural Price Indices and the most recent release can be found here.
Services Producer Price Index: The experimental Services Producer Price Index (SPPI) measures changes in the average prices charged by domestic service producers to other businesses for a selected range of services. In most cases these services are provided to business customers only and so individual price indices should not be considered indicative of more general trends in the economy. The index covers transaction costs from business to business and excludes consumers who are covered in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
More information on the SPPI and the most recent release can be found here.
Wholesale Price Index for Building and Construction Materials: The Wholesale Price Index for Building and Construction Materials, provides a general indication of price trends in that sector. Actual transaction prices are collected for materials purchased by construction and civil engineering firms. The price indices reflect an ‘average’ over a mixture of products from many companies throughout the country. They also reflect prices for both long-term and short-term contracts and for high and low volume civil engineering works. For the purposes of this report, monthly indices have been converted to quarterly by taking a simple average of the relevant three months.
More information on the Wholesale Price Index for Building and Construction Materials and the most recent release can be found here.
New Dwelling Completions: The New Dwelling Completions series is produced by the CSO on a quarterly basis. The primary data source used for the series is the ESB domestic connections dataset, where the date that the connection is energized determines the date of completion. This data provides policy makers with a valuable insight into the number of new dwellings available for occupation in the quarter concerned and also shows data on the number of dwellings being constructed.
More information on the New Dwelling Completions series and the most recent release can be found here.
Planning Permissions Statistics: The planning permission statistics published by the CSO's Business Statistics – Analysis and Results division provide a detailed breakdown of certain outputs of the planning process (number of planning permissions granted with the number of units, functional description, and their floor areas). Only final grants of permission for works which involve construction are covered, with refusals, retentions and outline permissions excluded. The purpose of the CSO Planning Permissions Statistics is to provide a short-term indicator on construction. It aims to provide data enabling some prediction of or insight into the amount of building activity about to take place in the State.
More information on the CSO Planning Permission Statistics can be found here.
Wholesale Price Index: Wholesale price indices are constructed based on the results of the ‘Wholesale Price Index – Price Inquiry’ survey. The term Industrial Producer Price Index refers to a family of indices that measure the average change over time in the selling prices received by domestic producers of goods and services. The other three wholesale price index series incorporate imported and home-produced goods sold by manufacturers and wholesale outlets.
More information on the Wholesale Price Index and the most recent release can be found here.
Government Finance Statistics Quarterly: This release comprises the latest official publication by the CSO of quarterly Government Finance Statistics (GFS) for the period Q1 2018 to Q2 2021. This release provides detailed revenue, expenditure and balance sheet data for general government. The data published in this series are consistent with General Government Deficit and Debt levels reported at the end September 2021 under the EU regulation governing the Excessive Deficit Procedure and the annual Government Finance Statistics (October 2021 results). Government accounts are compiled in the EU according to the European System of National Accounts framework ESA 2010.
More information on this release can be found here.
Government Finance Statistics Annual: This release comprises the latest official publication by the CSO of annual Government Finance Statistics (GFS) results for years 2015 to 2020.
The data published are consistent with the General Government Deficit and Debt levels reported at the end of September 2021 under the EU regulation governing the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP). Consequently, they may not always be fully aligned with the National Income and Expenditure and related publications such as the Institutional Sector Accounts.
More information on this release can be found here.
Goods Exports and Imports: Goods Exports and Imports statistics provide data on the movement of goods between countries. The statistics are a combination of Customs-based non-EU trade statistics and data from the Intrastat Survey of Irish traders involved in trade with other EU member states. The collection of trade data is the responsibility of VIMA (a branch of Revenue). The CSO is responsible for processing and disseminating the data.
More information on the Goods Exports and Imports statistics and the latest release can be found here.
NACE Rev.2: NACE is a Statistical Classification of Economic Activities developed in the European Community. NACE is an acronym derived from the French title ‘Nomenclature générale des Activités économiques dans les Communautés Européennes’.
On January 1st 2009 NACE Rev.2 became an official CSO Standard Classification. NACE is designed to allow comparisons of economic activities at national, European and global levels.
An economic activity takes place when resources such as capital goods, labour, manufacturing techniques or intermediary products are combined to produce specific goods or services. Thus, an economic activity is characterised by an input of resources, a production process and an output of products (goods or services). An activity as defined in NACE may consist of one simple process (for example weaving), but may also cover a whole range of sub-processes, each mentioned in different categories of the classification (for example, the manufacturing of a car consists of specific activities such as casting, forging, welding, assembling, painting, etc.). If the production process is organised as an integrated series of elementary activities within the same statistical unit, the whole combination is regarded as one activity. NACE coding is based on the 'principal activity' of a unit, where most of the gross value is added. Units should be classified to the category that best describes their activity e.g. for NACE Rev. 2, retail of shoes - 47.72 - 'Retail sale of footwear and leather goods in specialised stores'.
For further information on the NACE statistical classification, see here.
How we Worked:
Unemployed: Persons who, in the week before the survey (Labour Force Survey (LFS)), were without work and available for work within the next two weeks, and had taken specific steps, in the preceding four weeks, to find work. It should be noted that as per Eurostat’s operational implementation, the upper age limit for classifying a person as employed is 89 years.
Unemployment Rates: The CSO changed the calculation method of the Unemployment Rate in Q2 2015 to ensure coherence with Eurostat. Before this, the Unemployment rate was calculated as the number of unemployed as a percentage of the total labour force aged 15 and over. The change from Q2 2015 onwards uses the total labour force aged 15-74. Thus, a small number of persons aged 75 and over in employment are excluded from the total labour force used in the calculation. The overall impact of this change was very small.
In Employment: Persons who worked in the week before the survey (LFS) for one hour or more for payment or profit, including work on the family farm or business and all persons who had a job but were not at work because of illness, holidays etc. in the week. It should be noted that as per Eurostat’s operational implementation, the upper age limit for classifying a person as employed is 89 years.
Actual Hours Worked: Persons who are classified as employed in the survey (LFS) and who worked during the reference week are asked for the number of actual hours they worked that week. The estimate of the total number of actual hours worked per week in each quarter is calculated by adding together the number of actual hours worked in the reference week for all persons in employment.
Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP): The Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) is a scheme set up by the Government in response to the loss of income for those whose employment had been affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland. The PUP was closed to new applicants from 8 July 2021 and a gradual reduction in rates is planned under the Economic Recovery Plan.
Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS): The Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) was a scheme that was set up by the Government in response to the loss of income for those whose employment was affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland. Refunds were issued to employers registered under the scheme, who in turn paid their employees. Payments under the scheme commenced on the week ending 22 March 2020 and the scheme was closed at the end of August 2020.
Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS): The TWSS was replaced by the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) from 01 September 2020. The EWSS is an economy-wide enterprise support that focuses primarily on business eligibility. The scheme provides a flat-rate subsidy to qualifying employers based on the numbers of eligible employees on the employer’s payroll and gross pay to employees.
What we Consumed:
COICOP: The Classification of individual consumption by purpose, abbreviated as COICOP, is a classification developed by the United Nations Statistics Division to classify and analyse individual consumption expenditures incurred by households, non-profit institutions serving households and general government according to their purpose. It includes categories such as clothing and footwear, housing, water, electricity, and gas and other fuels.
Personal Consumption Expenditure: Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) is all spending on goods or services to satisfy the household’s needs and wants. It includes the spending of Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households (NPISH) on satisfying households’ demand.
Online Sales: The collection of data for online turnover began in November 2018. Enterprises in the sample provide the value of their online turnover for the reporting period. As for all of the survey, only Enterprises registered in Ireland are included. From the Annual Services Inquiry (2017) the Online and Mail Order Sector (G4791) registered in Ireland is estimated at 1.0% of all Retail Businesses. A fixed base weight is used from the Annual Services Inquiry (2017).
An increase in the proportion of turnover generated by online sales is not always indicative of greater spending online. A higher proportion of turnover by online sales could be due to overall retail sales falling while online sales remain stable, or the turnover generated by instore sales declining by a greater amount than the fall in turnover generated by online sales.
Private Cars: The term ‘private cars’ in this release, refers to privately licensed cars which include hire fleet and certain commercial vehicles.
New and Used Cars: The term ‘new cars’ refers to new cars which are licensed for use in a public place, in this country, for the first time. In the main used vehicles are imported.
New and Existing Dwellings: A new dwelling is defined as a dwelling that has not previously been inhabited. An existing dwelling is defined as a dwelling which has previously been inhabited.
Geographic Split (Residential Property Price Index):
Dublin: Dublin City, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, South Dublin
Border: Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan and Sligo
Midlands: Laois, Longford, Offaly and Westmeath
West: Galway, Mayo and Roscommon
Mid-East: Kildare, Louth, Meath and Wicklow
Mid-West: Clare, Limerick and Tipperary
South-East: Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford and Wexford
South-West: Cork and Kerry
What we Produced:
New Dwelling Completion: Recently constructed dwelling, where a dwelling is a self-contained unit of living accommodation.
Single: A single domestic dwelling.
Scheme: A multi-unit development with two or more houses.
Apartment: A multi-unit development with two or more apartments.
Planning Permissions: Planning permissions are classified by type of development, local authority district and by regional authority. A distinction is made between residential and non-residential building and civil engineering. Only residential applications are included in this report.
Factory Gate Prices / Producer Prices: The selling prices received by domestic producers of goods and services.
Impact on Macro-Economics:
Gross Value Added (GVA): GVA is the value that producers have added to the goods and services they have bought.
Foreign-owned Multinational Enterprise (MNE) dominated sectors: Foreign-owned Multinational Enterprise (MNE) dominated sectors occur where MNE turnover on average exceeds 85% of the sector total.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP): GDP is the central aggregate of National Accounts. GDP represents the total value added (output) in the production of goods and services in the country. GDP at market prices is the final result of the production activity of resident producer units. GDP is compiled both in constant prices and in current prices. Constant price data indicate the development of volumes, while current price data reflect volume and price movements.
Net Factor Income (NFI): NFI is comprised of both income inflows to, and outflows from, Ireland. Heavily influenced by the activities of foreign-owned multinational corporations in Ireland, net factor income has been consistently negative in the past. This position is due, in part, to the repatriation of profits by multinational corporations from Ireland.
Gross National Product (GNP): GNP is the sum of GDP and Net Factor Income (NFI) from the rest of the world. Because NFI is the difference between two large gross flows, its magnitude can fluctuate greatly from one quarter to another. This can lead to significant differences between the GDP and GNP growth rate for the same quarter.
Gross National Income (GNI): GNI is equal to GNP, plus subsidies received from abroad, minus subsidies paid to abroad.
Modified Gross National Income (GNI*): GNI* is an indicator designed specifically to measure the size of the Irish economy by excluding globalisation effects. GNI* is equal to GNI, minus the depreciation on intellectual property, minus the depreciation on leased aircraft, minus the net factor income of redomiciled PLCs.
Modified Total Domestic Demand (MTDD): MTDD is designed to exclude large transactions of foreign corporations that do not have a big impact on the domestic economy, i.e. to remove the distorting effects of globalisation. MTDD is therefore a smaller number, but it more truly representative of how households, government and domestic corporations in Ireland are doing. While GNI* approaches GDP from the income method, MTDD approaches it from the expenditure method.
Growth Rate of GDP: This is the measurement of the volume changes in GDP, i.e., percentage changes in GDP at constant prices. Thus, the growth rate is not affected by changes in prices.
Stability and Growth Pact (SGP): The SGP is a set of rules designed to ensure that countries in the European Union pursue sound finances and coordinate their fiscal policies.
Basic Prices: In regards GVA, the basic price is the amount of money actually received and kept by the producer. It includes non-product taxes on production but excludes non-product subsidies received by the producer.
General Government Consolidated Gross Debt: At nominal value, this is the standardised measure of indebtedness of EU governments. The general government sector comprises the sub-sectors of central government, local government, and social security funds. The debt of commercial State companies/public corporations is excluded. It takes account of all liabilities included in the traditional national definition of National Debt, without any offsetting of liquid assets, together with the liabilities of non-commercial State agencies and Local Authorities.
General Government Total Expenditure: is composed of public sector pay and pensions, social benefits and other transfer payments, expenditure on goods and services, national debt interest and subsidies. It is one of the elements of the public balance.
Chain Linking: The volume measures are produced using annual chain linked indices. On the output side, for each pair of successive years, the volume growth measures at a detailed level are weighted together using value added weights of the first year. Similarly, on the expenditure side, annual growth estimates are weighted by previous year expenditure weights. The average of the two measures is the official level of GDP to base the previous year. The change over a period of years is then calculated by linking together the annual volume changes. The estimates in this report are referenced to 2019 values.
It should be noted that under the system of chain linking individual components are chain linked independently of their aggregates. Thus, the expenditure estimate of GDP, in constant prices on a chain linked basis, is not derived by adding the chain linked values of personal consumption, government expenditure, capital expenditure, stock changes and exports minus imports. Rather it is estimated by linking the year to year volume changes in GDP (which have been calculated to base the previous year) to the GDP value in 2019. This results in the loss of additivity for years prior to the chain linked reference year (i.e. for years prior to 2019 for NIE 2020) by which is meant that the sum of the chain linked components do not add to the chain linked aggregate.
In addition, there is the extra complication that the official volume estimate of GDP is the average of the expenditure estimate of GDP (to base the previous year) and the output estimate of GDP (to base the previous year). Thus, before the chain linking process even begins, the GDP volume estimate cannot be derived as the sum of its components.
Statistical Discrepancy (Table 5.3): The Statistical discrepancy item 66 arises from the fact that estimates of gross domestic product at constant market prices are calculated in two independent ways (viz. the output method and the expenditure method). The two methods produce different estimates. The official level of GDP at constant prices is taken to be the average of the two independent estimates when calculated to base the previous year and the statistical discrepancy in item 66 is the amount by which either estimate has to be adjusted to bring it in line with the official estimate. The statistical discrepancy is only shown for the years 2019 and 2020 as these are the only years when the sums of the components (including the discrepancy) of either the output or expenditure methods are equal to the output or expenditure estimate of GDP. Irrespective of the official GDP being the average of two independent estimates additivity is lost for the individual estimates due to the chain linking process.
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