LFS estimates were updated on 22nd Feb 2024 to incorporate updated population estimates for the period 2016 Q3 to 2023 Q3, based on the results of Census 2022. LFS results are updated in this way following each Census of Population. For further information see Background Notes. The data in this publication does not reflect these updates. Please refer to the relevant tables on LFS Px-stat for updated LFS estimates.
There were 2,506,000 people aged 15-89 years in employment in Q4 2021, giving an employment rate of 73.0% for those aged 15-64, based on the International Labour Organisation (ILO) criteria
The number of persons in employment was up 10.1% (229,100) from 2,276,800 over the year while the employment rate was up from 67.0% in Q4 2020
Of those employed in Q4 2021, 252,100 (10.1%) were "Away from work" in the reference week. This compares to 295,700 (13.0%) who were "Away from work" in the reference week a year earlier
Overall employment was up over the year, while the number of absences from work decreased over the year. This resulted in the number of employed persons at work in the reference week also increasing by 13.8% (+272,800) over the year
There was a consequential increase of 9.6% or 6.8 million hours worked per week from 70.8 million hours in Q4 2020 to 77.6 million hours in Q4 2021
The COVID-19 Adjusted Measure of Employment, or the lower bound for the number of employed persons aged 15-89 years, decreased from 2,439,099 to 2,430,587 between the end of December 2021 and the end of January 2022. This was accompanied by a decrease from 70.9% in December 2021 to 70.7% in January 2022 in the associated COVID-19 Adjusted Employment Rate for those aged 15-64
Unemployment
There were 127,400 unemployed persons aged 15-74 years in Q4 2021 based on ILO methodology
In Q4 2021, the unemployment rate was 4.9% for those aged 15-74 years with a rate of 10.2% for those aged 15-24 years; these rates are down from 5.9% and 14.2% respectively in Q4 2020
The COVID-19 Adjusted Measure of Monthly Unemployment published as part of the Monthly Unemployment release for January 2022, was 195,313 for December 2021 (end of Q4 2021); this estimate is an upper bound and adds all those on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) to the standard Monthly Unemployment Estimate
The COVID-19 Adjusted Measure of Unemployment increased to 202,027 in January 2022
The associated COVID-19 Adjusted Unemployment Rate increased from 7.4% in December 2021 to 7.8% in January 2022
The Monthly Unemployment release published on 02 February 2022 includes the latest standard and COVID-19 Adjusted Measures of Unemployment for all months up to January 2022, please see the Monthly Unemployment release for more information.
Labour Force
There were 2,633,300 persons in the Labour Force in Q4 2021 and this was up by 8.9% (214,800) from Q4 2020
The participation rate in Q4 2021 stood at 65.1% up from 60.6% a year earlier
This is an audio file with a 34-second quote from CSO statistician with the Labour Market Division, Sam Scriven, about the Labour Force Survey Quarter 4 2021 release. Media outlets have permission to use the clip as long as they credit the CSO.
