There were 2,824,100 persons aged 15-89 years in the labour force in Q4 2023, using standard International Labour Organisation (ILO) criteria. This represented an increase of 94,700 or 3.5% over the year. This compares with an annual labour force increase of 47,900 (+1.8%) in Q4 2022 and an increase of 233,000 (+9.5%) in Q4 2021. See Table 2.1.
The number of males in the labour force increased by 3.0% (+42,900) to 1,493,900 in the year to Q4 2023, while the number of females in the labour force increased by 4.1% (+51,800) to 1,330,200. See Table 2.1.
The participation rate for all persons aged 15 years and over stood at 65.4% in Q4 2023 up from 64.6% a year earlier. In Q4 2023, the participation rate for males was 70.6% compared to 60.4% for females.
The labour market participation rate among those aged 15-24 years stood at 53.5% in Q4 2023. The participation rate was highest among the 25-34 and 35-44 year-old age groups at 88.2% and 87.0% respectively. See Tables 2.1 and 2.2.
The number of people in the labour force is influenced by changes in the size of the working age population (the demographic effect). Up to late 2008, this demographic effect added at least 30,000 to the labour force each year, driven mainly by immigration, peaking at 90,500 in Q2 2007.
The positive demographic effect started to fall in the second half of 2007 as immigration decreased. It continued to fall in 2008 and 2009 and was negative between Q3 2009 and Q1 2014. The demographic effect turned positive again in Q2 2014 and has remained positive since then, contributing an increase of 52,200 to the labour force in the year to Q4 2023.
In addition to the demographic effect, the change in the size of the labour force is influenced by changes in participation. The overall participation rate increased by 0.7 percentage points to 65.4% over the year. The net result of changes in individual age groups for the same period was a positive participation effect of 42,500. See Tables 2.1 and 2.2.
Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.