Statistics in this publication are based on population estimates which have not been updated following Census 2022. See LFS Background Notes.
In 2022, of people who were aged 15-74 and were currently or recently working:
Just over 36% said they spent all or most of the time working on digital devices, while 24% spent none of their working time on digital devices.
Some 23% spent all or most of their working time doing hard physical work while 45% spent none of their working time doing hard physical work.
Around 11% spent all or most of their working time advising, training or teaching people, while 39% spent no time on such duties.
Just over 53% said they spent at least half their working time interacting with people from inside their enterprise or organisation, with 40% saying they spent at least half their working time interacting with people from outside their enterprise or organisation.
Women were more likely to spend more of their time advising, training, or teaching other people than men, with 21% spending at least half their time on this task compared with 14% of men. More men (36%) said they spent at least half their working time on hard physical work than women (22%).
| Table 1.1 Share of persons by Time Spent on Job Skill, 20221 | ||||||
| % | ||||||
| Job Skills | All or most of the working time | Half of the working time or slightly more | Some of the working time | Little of the working time | None of the working time | Total |
| Working on digital devices | 36.3 | 11.0 | 12.5 | 16.4 | 23.9 | 100 |
| Reading work-related manuals and technical documents | 6.2 | 7.4 | 21.0 | 37.2 | 28.2 | 100 |
| Doing relatively complex calculations | 7.1 | 6.3 | 15.6 | 29.1 | 41.8 | 100 |
| Doing hard physical work | 22.6 | 7.0 | 10.9 | 14.9 | 44.6 | 100 |
| Doing tasks involving finger dexterity | 13.9 | 5.0 | 10.6 | 14.9 | 55.6 | 100 |
| Interacting with people from inside the enterprise or organisation | 35.1 | 18.3 | 23.7 | 15.2 | 7.7 | 100 |
| Interacting with people from outside the enterprise or organisation | 28.7 | 11.7 | 20.2 | 20.9 | 18.5 | 100 |
| Advising, training or teaching people | 10.8 | 6.2 | 19.7 | 24.0 | 39.3 | 100 |
| 1The Job Skills module was collected in the Labour Force Survey, Q1 to Q4 2022 | ||||||
Females spent considerably more of their working time on skills related to communication - 49% of women said they spent at least half their time interacting with people from outside the enterprise or organisation compared with 33% of men 33%, while 59% of women spent at least half their time interacting with people within their organisation compared with 48% of men.
Women also spent more time advising, training or teaching other people than men, with 21% spending at least half their time on this task compared with 14% of men. Women also spent more of their working time on digital devices, with 51% spending at least half their time working on digital devices compared with 44% of men.
Men said they spent more working time on manual tasks such as hard physical work (36% spent at least half the working time) and tasks involving finger dexterity (24% spent at least half the working time) than women (22% and 14% respectively).
The amount of time spent on cognitive skills such as reading work-related manuals and technical documents or doing relatively complex calculations was fairly even for males and females.
Figure 1.2 shows the breakdown by sex of time spent on each job skill. The job skill can be selected from the drop-down menu.
Half of those aged 15-24 said they spent none of their working time on digital devices. The proportion of those aged 15-24 who spent all or most of their time on digital devices (15%) was the lowest of any age group. The age groups that spent most time working on digital devices were those aged 25-34 and 35-44, 54% of whom spent at least half their time on digital devices. Older age groups spent less time on digital devices, the amount of time decreasing with increased age.
A similar pattern is seen with reading work-related manuals and technical documents or doing relatively complex calculations. The age groups with the most time spent were those aged 25-34 and 35-44, while those spending the least amount of time were the youngest and oldest (aged 15-24 and 65-74).
The opposite pattern is seen with doing hard physical work. The age group who spent the most time doing physical work is the 15–24-year-olds (46% spent at least half their time on physical tasks) and 65-74 year olds (33% spent at least half their time on physical tasks), while the groups spending the least amount of time on physical tasks were the 25-34 and 35-44 age groups, with 25% and 26% respectively spending at least half their time on physical tasks.
Figure 1.3 shows the breakdown by age group of time spent on each job skill. The job skill can be selected from the drop-down menu.
People with a third level qualification spent more of their time providing guidance than people without a third level qualification - 23% of those with a third level qualification spent at least half their time advising, training, or teaching other people. They were also much more likely to work intensively on digital devices – 52% of those with a third level qualification spent all or most of their working time on digital devices compared with 20% of those whose highest level of education was higher secondary and 10% for those who didn’t complete secondary education.
Figure 1.4 shows the breakdown by highest level of education of time spent on each job skill. The job skill can be selected from the drop-down menu.
Nine out of ten people (89%) working in Sector J Information & Communication, and around seven out of ten in Sector M Professional, Scientific & Technical (70%) and Sector O Public Administration & Defence (68%) spent all or most of their working time on digital devices.
The data supports strong emphasis on physical work in Sector A Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing (72% spent at least half the time doing hard physical work).
It is no surprise that the sector where most time is spent on advising, training or teaching other people is P Education, where six in ten (60%) spent all or most of the time advising, training or teaching.
Figure 1.5 shows the breakdown by selected industrial sectors (NACE Rev. 2) of time spent on each job skill. The job skill can be selected from the drop-down menu.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (29 November 2023) published the results of the Job Skills survey module which was collected as part of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) in 2022. The Job Skills module asked participants about the skills used at work and the allocation of their time spent using those skills.
The Job Skills module was collected across all 27 EU member states during 2022 as well as in Norway and Switzerland. In Ireland, the respondents to this survey came from a subset of LFS respondents across all four quarters of 2022.
Commenting on the results, Sam Scriven, Statistician in the Labour Market and Earnings Division, said:
“The survey results indicate that 36% of workers in Ireland spend all or most of their working time on digital devices.
Almost twice as many women (14%) as men (8%) spent all or most of their working time advising, training or teaching people, while significantly more women (36%) than men (22%) spent all or most of their working time communicating with people outside their organisation.
The 15-24 year-old age group spent the least amount of time working on digital devices, with 15% saying they spent all or most of their working time using them. Conversely, this age group spent the most time engaged in hard physical work with 36% saying they spent all or most of their work time on this type of activity.
The opposite pattern was observed in the age groups between 25 and 44 years, who spent the most time working on digital devices (44% of 25-34 and of 35-44 spent all or most of their working time on digital devices) but the least amount of time on hard physical tasks (19% of 25-34 spent all or most of their working time on hard physical tasks).
Of those with a third level qualification, 23% said they spent at least half their time advising, training or teaching other people. They were also much more likely to work intensively on digital devices – 52% of people with a third level qualification spent all or most of their working time on digital devices compared with 20% whose highest level of education was higher secondary level, and 10% who didn’t complete secondary education."