This publication is categorised as a CSO Frontier Series Output. Particular care must be taken when interpreting the statistics in this release as it may use new methods which are under development and/or data sources which may be incomplete, for example new administrative data sources.
The seasonally adjusted employee index increased by 0.2% in the month to August 2024.
The monthly employee index for males increased by 0.1%, while the employee index for females increased by 0.2% over the same period.
The seasonally adjusted employee index was up by 2.6% in the 12 months to August 2024.
Taking age into account, decreases in the monthly index were seen in the 15-19 years (-0.6%) and 65 years and over (-0.3%) age groups.
The NACE sectors with the largest monthly increase in August 2024 were Human Health & Social Work Activities and Transportation & Storage (both +0.5%).
The largest monthly decreases in August 2024 were in Services (T, U), down 2.8%, followed by Professional, Scientific & Technical Activities (-0.9%). It should be noted that Services (T, U) is the smallest sector, with 4,300 employees in August 2024.
In the 12 months to August 2024, the economic sectors that observed the largest rise in the number of employees was in Public Administration & Defence (+6.7%) and Human Health & Social Work Activities (+6.0%).
The Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data release is a very short time series (just over five years of monthly data) and is thus at the lower limit of acceptable length for the seasonal adjustment process. In the short term, care should be taken in interpreting the seasonally adjusted output. Users should be aware that there is increased uncertainty around the seasonally adjusted figures during the COVID-19 period due to the volatility of the data. Non-seasonally adjusted data are available on PxStat. The seasonal models were revised in June 2024. The models are being updated as part of the annual review process in accordance with the CSO and ESS (European Statistical System/Eurostat) guidelines.
The Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data is published as a 'Frontier' release, therefore the methodology and data are subject to revision. As more data become available, due to later transmissions from employers, the series may change from month to month. As this particularly affects the most recent months, figures should be considered provisional for the two most recent months for the non-seasonally adjusted data. Estimates for 2023 were revised in June 2024 as part of an annual review with the latest data available. All figures for monthly percentage change and annual percentage change are calculated prior to the input data being rounded.
Note: It is anticipated that an update including new weighting will be introduced in forthcoming months. This will result in a break in series.
| Number of Employees and Employee Index, Monthly and Annual Changes, Seasonally Adjusted | ||||
| Period | Number of Employees | Employee Index (Base year: 2019=100) | Monthly % Change | Annual % Change |
| August 2023 | 2,431,000 | 112.9 | 0.3 | 3.1 |
| July 2024 | 2,490,000 | 115.6 | 0.1 | 2.7 |
| August 2024 | 2,494,700 | 115.8 | 0.2 | 2.6 |
The seasonally adjusted index increased by 2.6% in August 2024 when compared with August 2023. March 2021 was the last month to show an annual decrease (-11.1%) in the employee index.
On an annual basis, the female index increased by 2.9%, while the male index rose by 2.2%. On a monthly basis the female index was up by 0.2%, while the male index increased by 0.1%.
With the exception of the 15-19 years age category (-3.0%), all age groups saw annual increases in the employee index. The age groups with the largest annual rise in employees was 65 years and over (+10.4%), followed by those aged 60-64 years (+5.9%).
Most economic sectors showed an annual increase in the employee index when compared with August 2023. The sectors showing the largest annual increases were Public Administration & Defence (+6.7%) and Human Health & Social Work Activities (+6.0%). The largest decrease was recorded in Information & Communication (-2.1%).
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (18 October 2024) released Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data, August 2024.
Commenting on the release, Aoife McHugh, Statistician in the Labour Market & Earnings Division, said:
“Nine NACE sectors saw a monthly increase in the numbers employed in August 2024, while five sectors decreased, and one remained unchanged. The sector that observed the largest monthly decrease was Services (T, U) (-2.8%), while the largest monthly rise was seen in Human Health & Social Work Activities and Transportation & Storage (+0.5%).
The 15-19 years age group saw the largest decrease in employees in the month to August 2024 (-0.6%). The 65 years and over age group also saw a monthly decrease in the employee index (-0.3%). All remaining age groups, between 20 and 64 years saw a monthly rise.
On an annual basis, the seasonally adjusted index went up by 2.6% from August 2023 to August 2024.”
Data from this publication supplement those in the Labour Force Survey (LFS) quarterly series, which is the official measure of both employment and unemployment for the State. Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data are of relevance to LFS Seasonally Adjusted Estimates and Employment outputs.