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Pension Coverage 2023

Overall Pension Coverage

Online ISSN: 2811-616X

CSO statistical publication, 26 February 2024, 11am

Pension cover of females (67%) aged 20-69 now almost on a par with males (68%)

Supplementary pension coverage of females now stands at 67%, up two percentage points from 2022, while 68% of males have pension cover of some form, unchanged from 2022. See Table 2.1.
Those in employment aged between 45 and 54 years have the highest level of supplementary pension coverage (77%) and has remained unchanged compared with the same period in 2022 and 2021. By comparison, nearly three quarters of older workers aged 55 to 69, have pension cover of some form.
There was a marginal decrease in supplementary pension cover of persons who are self-employed and/or assisting relative in Quarter 3 2023 – 54% compared with 56% in the same period in 2022. By comparison, seven in ten (70%) employees have supplementary pension cover, an increase of two percentage points on the same period in 2022.
Pension coverage of part-time workers has increased in 2023 to 47%, up four percentage points on the same period in 2022. Supplementary pension cover of their full-time equivalents remains unchanged at 72%.

Table 2.1 Pension coverage in the State for persons in employment (ILO) aged 20 to 69 years, Q3 2021 to Q3 2023

Professionals have the highest pension coverage

The economic sector with the highest pension coverage in Quarter 3 2023 was Public Administration and Defence; Compulsory Social Security (97%) and the lowest coverage was in the Accommodation and Food Service Activities sector (32%). See Table 2.2.
Analysis of pension coverage by broad occupational groups shows that workers whose occupation was classified as Professionals had the highest pension coverage rate (83%), followed by Managers, Directors and Senior Officials (77%), and Associate Professional and Technical (75%), while just four in ten (40%) workers whose broad occupational group was Elementary had pension coverage. See Figure 2.1 and Table 2.2.

	Managers, Directors and Senior Officials	Professionals	Associate Professional and Technical	Administrative and Secretarial	Skilled Trades	Caring, Leisure and Other Services	Sales and Customer Service	Process, Plant and Machine Operatives	Elementary
Pension Coverage 2023	77	83	75	66	48	44	58	54	40

Table 2.2 Pension coverage for persons in employment (ILO) aged 20 to 69 years by NACE Rev.2 Economic Sector and broad occupational group, Q3 2021 to Q3 2023

Table 2.2 Pension coverage for persons in employment (ILO) aged 20 to 69 years by NACE Rev.2 Economic Sector and broad occupational group^{1 2}, Q3 2021 to Q3 2023
% of persons in employment aged 20 to 69
		Q3 2021³	Q3 2021⁴	Q3 2022³	Q3 2022⁴	Q3 2023³	Q3 2023⁴
State		56	66	58	66	57	68

NACE Rev.2 Economic Sector
A	Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing	33	54	38	50	33	45
B-E	Industry	68	75	63	72	62	70
F	Construction	49	60	43	56	41	58
G	Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles	31	41	39	48	38	51
H	Transportation and Storage	47	60	52	67	47	60
I	Accommodation and Food Service Activities	15	20	10	24	20	32
J	Information and Communication	65	72	69	79	70	80
K-L	Financial, Insurance and Real Estate Activities	75	83	84	90	80	88
M	Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities	50	68	53	70	52	66
N	Administrative and Support Service Activities	29	48	35	53	36	57
O	Public Administration and Defence; Compulsory Social Security	93	95	95	98	95	97
P	Education	80	85	80	85	77	83
Q	Human Health and Social Work Activities	64	72	60	69	65	75
R-U	Other NACE Activities	30	39	25	38	22	38
	Not stated	*	*	*	*	*	*

Broad Occupational Group
1.	Managers, Directors and Senior Officials	62	75	60	72	66	77
2.	Professionals	73	81	75	82	75	83
3.	Associate Professional and Technical	63	73	67	77	65	75
4.	Administrative and Secretarial	57	67	59	69	55	66
5.	Skilled Trades	37	43	36	43	35	48
6.	Caring, Leisure and Other Services	29	50	36	51	30	44
7.	Sales and Customer Service	31	40	43	53	42	58
8.	Process, Plant and Machine Operatives	40	53	43	54	43	54
9.	Elementary⁵	30	35	29	37	28	40
	Other/not stated	90	92	*	*	*	*
¹ Please note data may not add to 100% due to rounding issues.
² The compositional effect on survey results due to changes in employment in certain sectors as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic is detailed in the Background Notes.
³Includes only occupational pensions from current employment and personal pensions in current contribution.
⁴Includes occupational pensions from current/previous employments and personal pensions, including deferred pensions and pensions in draw-down mode.
⁵ Elementary occupations involve the performance of simple and routine tasks which may require the use of hand-held tools and considerable physical effort. Examples include cleaning, restocking supplies and performing basic maintenance tasks, helping in kitchens and performing simple tasks in food preparation, delivering messages or goods, etc.
* Sample occurrence too small for estimation.

Open in Excel: Pension Coverage 2023 Table 2.2 (XLS 13KB)

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Table 2.3 Pension coverage in the State for persons in current employment (ILO) or had previous employment aged 20 to 69 years, Q3 2022 and Q3 2023

Next chapter: Type of Pension Coverage

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Pension Coverage 2023

Overall Pension Coverage

Overall Pension Coverage

Pension cover of females (67%) aged 20-69 now almost on a par with males (68%)

Professionals have the highest pension coverage

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Table 2.1 Pension coverage in the State for persons in employment (ILO) aged 20 to 69 years¹, Q3 2021 to Q3 2023
% of persons in employment aged 20 to 69
	Q3 2021²	Q3 2021³	Q3 20222²	Q3 2022³	Q3 2023²	Q3 2023³
State	56	66	58	66	57	68

Sex
Male	57	68	58	68	57	68
Female	56	64	57	65	57	67

Age group
20-24	22	25	29	31	25	33
25-34	53	57	52	56	53	61
35-44	62	71	61	69	63	72
45-54	67	77	66	77	66	77
55-69	55	74	59	75	55	73

Nationality
Irish nationals	59	69	61	70	59	70
Non-Irish nationals	37	43	39	45	42	52

ILO employment status
Self employed and/or assisting relative	30	55	33	56	30	54
Employee	60	67	61	68	61	70

Hours of work
Full-time	63	71	64	72	63	72
Part-time	27	42	28	43	29	47
¹ Please note data may not add to 100% due to rounding issues.
²Includes only occupational pensions from current employment and personal pensions in current contribution.
³Includes occupational pensions from current/previous employments and personal pensions, including deferred pensions and pensions in draw-down mode.

Table 2.3 Pension coverage in the State for persons¹ in current employment (ILO) or had previous employment aged 20 to 69 years², Q3 2022 and Q3 2023
% of persons in current employment/had previous employments aged 20 to 69
	Q3 2022³	Q3 2022⁴	Q3 2023³	Q3 2023⁴
State	44	59	45	61

Sex
Male	49	64	48	64
Female	40	55	42	58

Age group
20-24	21	22	19	27
25-34	45	51	46	55
35-44	52	62	54	65
45-54	55	69	56	70
55-69	34	67	34	67
¹ All persons who are currently unemployed or have been previously employed.
² Please note data may not add to 100% due to rounding issues.
³Includes only occupational pensions from current employment and personal pensions in current contribution.
⁴Includes occupational pension coverage from current/previous employments and personal pensions, including deferred pensions and pensions in draw-down mode.