Almost 70% of persons had the same primary employment in Q2 2022 as they had in Q1 2020 if they had never been in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) or the Wage Subsidy Scheme (WSS). This compares with just over 60% for those who received WSS and just under 40% for those on PUP.
More than 80% of recipients of a Government pandemic income support scheme were still in PAYE employment in Q2 2022.
Of those who were in payroll employment in Q1 2020, and in receipt of PUP at any time, 4.6% were on the Live Register and not receiving pay from an employer in Q2 2022.
In the business economy, four in ten (39.2%) enterprises that availed of a Government pandemic income support scheme had more payroll employees in Q2 2022 than pre-COVID levels in Q1 2020.
A quarter (26.9%) of enterprises that did not avail of a Government pandemic income support scheme had more payroll employment in Q2 2022.
Of the enterprises that had all staff in receipt of a PUP during the first lockdown, 39.9% had more payroll employees while 21.9% had similar levels of staff in Q2 2022 compared with pre-COVID levels.
More than one in five (22.2%) enterprises in Accommodation & Food that availed of a Government pandemic income support scheme had no paid employees in Q2 2022.
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Statistician's Comment
Commenting on the Labour Market section of today’s publication, John Mullane, Statistician in the Labour Market & Earnings Division, said:
“Today’s publication highlights the different employment outcomes for persons over the course of the pandemic based on whether they received one of the Government’s income supports such as the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) or the Wage Subsidy Scheme (WSS) or neither of these. More than 80% of those who received PUP prior to Q2 2022 were still in employment in Q2 2022, 4.6% were on the Live Register, and 15% were no longer an employee on PAYE. For those in receipt of the WSS, nearly 90% were still in employment, 1.9% were on the Live Register, and 9.7% were no longer in PAYE employment.
The type of Government income support scheme a person received had a strong bearing on whether an individual was in the same job in Q2 2022 as they were at the start of the pandemic. For those in the Transport economic sector in receipt of WSS, 72.3% held the same job from Q1 2020 to Q2 2022 – compared with 44.0% for transport workers in receipt of PUP and 69.9% for those on neither support.
The NACE economic sector of a person’s primary employment in Q1 2020 and their age group also had a significant impact on whether individuals remained in the same employment later in the pandemic. For those in receipt of the PUP, for example:
Commenting on the Business section of today’s publication, Colin Hanley, Statistician in the Business Statistics Division, said:
“The results of this publication show the impact of COVID-19 related income supports on the payroll employment of enterprises in the Irish business economy. It takes payroll employment in Q1 2020 as a baseline and looks to see if employment has increased, decreased, or stayed the same. Of the enterprises that had all their staff in receipt of PUP during the initial restrictions in Q2 2020, more than six in ten had either returned to similar levels of employment (21.9%) or increased payroll employment (39.9%) by Q2 2022.
Almost 40% of enterprises that availed of either PUP or WSS had more payroll employees in Q2 2022 compared with 26.9% of enterprises that did not avail of income support.
Among the sectors with the highest proportion of enterprises with more payroll employees in Q2 2022 compared with Q1 2020 were Industry (43.4%) and Information & Communication (43.0%,) while the sectors with the highest proportion of enterprises without paid employees in Q2 2022 were in Accommodation & Food (22.2%) and Other Services, which includes activities such as repairs, hairdressing, and well-being (19.8%).”