Environment, Social and Governance Reporting: Data for the Enterprise Economy 2024

Introduction

Enterprises have an important societal function to play - from providing employment, to the quality of that employment and health and safety at work. In this chapter, we learn that the number of persons employed in Ireland continues to increase, but persons with a disability have a significantly lower employment rate than the overall working population. Earnings continue to rise, but a gender pay gap still remains. We see that persons who are unemployed are far more likely to be 'At risk of poverty' or 'In consistent poverty' than those in employment. We learn that most people were either 'satisfied' or 'very satisfied' in their jobs in 2021. Almost 40% of employees availed of remote working in 2021 and the proportion of employees who are members of trade unions is declining.

The number of persons in employment increased by 335,400 from Q1 2020 to Q1 2024

Using standard International Labour Organisation (ILO) criteria, an estimated 2,704,200 persons were in employment in Q1 2024, up 14.2% (335,400) from 2,368,800 in Q1 2020. The employment rate in Q1 2024 was 73.8% up from 73.7% in Q1 2023. See Figure 6.1 and Table 6.1.

Employment increased by 1.9% in the 12 months up to Q1 2024

The number of persons aged 15-89 years in employment increased by 51,500 or 1.9% to 2,704,200 persons in the 12 months up to Q1 2024. The annual change of 1.9% is the lowest annual increase in three years.

The economic sectors that saw the largest year-on-year growth in Q1 2024 were the:

• Professional, Scientific & Technical Activities which increased by 26,300 or 15.4%
• Education which increased by 16,900 or 7.9%
• Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing which increased by 6,500 or 6.4%

The largest decreases by economic sector in Q1 2024 were observed in the:

• The Industry sector – down 11,200 persons or -3.4%.
• Administrative & Support Service sector which decreased by 3,000 or -2.6%
• Wholesale & Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles sector – down 5,400 or -1.6%. See Figure 6.2 and Table 6.2.

Just under half of people (44.1%) with a disability aged 15-64 were employed in 2019

Just under half (44.1%) of working age people with a disability were in employment in 2019. In the 2016 Census, 323,062 people of working age (15-64 years) said they had a disability. By 2019, 28.1% were in employment with no social welfare, 4.9% were employed and had a long-term disability payment and 11.0% were employed and had another working age social welfare payment. See Figure 6.3 and Table 6.3 (a).

Table 6.3 (b) show that the main sectors where the 142,358 people with a disability were employed in 2019 were:

• Wholesale, Retail & Trade (21,545)
• Health & Social Work (16,370) and
• Public Administration & Defence (14,275)

Average hourly earnings rose by 24% from Q1 2019 to Q1 2024

Over the five years from Q1 2019 to Q1 2024, average hourly earnings rose by 24.0% from €24.05 to €29.82, while average paid hours increased 1.2% from 32.1 to 32.5 hours. Average hourly earnings grew on an annual basis by 4.5% to €29.82 in Q1 2024, while average weekly paid hours rose from 32.4 in Q1 2023 to 32.5 in Q1 2024. See Table Figure 6.4 and Table 6.4.

The gender pay gap in 2022 was 9.6%

The gender pay gap (GPG) in Ireland for 2022 was 9.6%, that is the average male earned 9.6% more than the average female. Ireland's gender pay gay was measured by the structure of business survey in 2022. The GPG refers to the difference in average hourly wages between men and women. The unadjusted GPG is calculated as the difference between the average gross hourly earnings of male and female paid employees as a percentage of average gross hourly earnings of male paid employees. It is a measure across all jobs and characteristics in Ireland, not of the difference in pay between men and women doing the same job.

In economic sectors the highest GPG was in the Financial, Insurance and Real Estate sector at 24.7% with average hourly earnings of €41.93 for males and €31.59 for females. The lowest GPG was in the Education sector at 2.7% where males earned €36.64 and females earned €35.65 on average per hour. See Figure 6.5 and Table 6.5.

115,200 persons aged 15-74 years were unemployed in Q1 2024, an unemployment rate of 4.1%

The long-term unemployment rate decreased from 1.2% in Q1 2023 to 1.0% in Q1 2024. Over a quarter (26.3%) (excluding “not stated”) unemployed persons were in long-term unemployment in Q1 2024 which is down from 31.5% (excluding “not stated”) a year earlier. See Figure 6.6 and Table 6.6.

In 2023, the 'At risk of poverty rate' for persons in employment was 5.8% whereas for unemployed persons it was 25.5%

In SILC 2023, the 'At risk of poverty rate' for persons in employment was 5.8%, whereas for unemployed persons it was 25.5%. In 2023, the 'Consistent poverty rate' for persons in employment was 9.4%, the corresponding rate for persons in employment was 1.5%. See Figure 6.7 and Table 6.7.

Job vacancy rate in Q1 2024 down at 1.1% from 1.4% in Q1 2023

The job vacancy rate in Q1 2024, which measures job vacancies on the last working day of the quarter, was down to 1.1% from 1.4% in Q1 2023. It remained unchanged at 1.1% recorded at the end of Q4 2023. There were 24,700 job vacancies, (rounded to the nearest 100), at the end of Q1 2024, down by 6,600 from the end of Q1 2023. See Figure 6.7, Table 6.8 and Table 6.9.

In 2021, over one quarter (25.9%) of employees were very satisfied in their job, nearly two thirds (63%) were satisfied

The Personal and Work-Life Balance Survey, which collected information on how we balance the different aspects of our lives, including work and our personal life and was carried out for the first time in the third quarter (July to September) of 2021.

Respondents to the survey currently in employment, were asked a series of questions on job satisfaction and pressures of work in their current job. They were asked to rate their level of satisfaction with their job as a whole, on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is 'not satisfied at all' and 10 is 'completely satisfied'.

The majority of employees were satisfied with their job - over one quarter (25.9%) were very satisfied, while nearly two thirds (63.0%) were satisfied. One in nine were not happy in their job - one in eleven (9.1%) were dissatisfied (rating of 3-5) while 2.0% were very dissatisfied (rating of 0-2). See Figure 6.9 and Table 6.10.

39% of employees availed of remote work in Q3 2021

The results of the Personal and Work-Life Balance Survey, which collected information on how we balance the different aspects of our lives, including work and our personal life and was carried out for the first time in the third quarter (July to September) of 2021.

In the 2021 survey, respondents were asked about the types of flexible working arrangements that they availed of in the 12 months previous to interview. At an overall level, 39% participated in remote work, 19.5% worked part-time and one in six (16.7%) employees availed of flexible hours, where they availed of a working pattern outside the traditional nine-to-five model. These levels were likely influenced by the restrictions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Analysis of the data by NACE economic sector shows that employees in the Financial, Insurance and Real Estate Activities sector availed most of flexible hours in the previous 12 months (31.9%), followed closely by employees in the Professional and Scientific sector (27.0%), and the Information and Communication sector where just over one quarter (25.5%) of employees availed of this flexible working arrangement. By comparison, only one 3.7% of employees in the Education sector availed of flexible hours in the previous 12-month period. See Figure 6.10 and Table 6.11.

22% of all employees were in a trade union in quarter 2 2023

In Q2 2023, 22% of all employees were in a trade union in 2023, the corresponding figure was 27% in Q2 2020 and 30% in Q2 2012. See Table 6.12.

Fatal work-related accidents from 38 in 2022 to 43 deaths in 2023

There was 43 fatal work related incidents in 2023, a rise from 38 in 2022, 20 of which were in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector. See Figure 6.11 and Table 6.13.