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 fell by 0.1% in the month to July 2023.
On an annual basis the index increased by 2.4% to July 2023. The female employee index rose by 2.6%, while the male index was up by 2.0% for the same period.
The largest increase in the monthly index by age was seen in the 65 years and over group (+0.4%), while the largest decrease was seen in the 15-19-year-old group (-4.9%).
Two of the fifteen NACE sectors showed an increase in July 2023, Public Administration & Defence: Compulsory Social Security (+0.4%) and Education (+0.1%). The largest decrease was observed in Accommodation & Food Service Activities (-3.7%).
In the 12 months to July 2023, the Financial, Insurance & Real Estate Activities sector saw the largest rise in the number of employees (+6.5%).
The Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data release is a very short time series (four and a half 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 2023. 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. All figures for monthly percentage change and annual percentage change are calculated prior to the input data being rounded.
| 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 |
| July 2022 | 2,360,000 | 109.6 | 0.4 | 9.0 |
| June 2023 | 2,420,800 | 112.4 | 0.1 | 3.0 |
| July 2023 | 2,417,400 | 112.2 | -0.1 | 2.4 |
The seasonally adjusted index increased by 2.4% in July 2023 when compared with July 2022. March 2021 was the last month to show a negative annual change (-10.9%) for the employee index when compared with the previous year.
The female and male indices increased on an annual basis by 2.6% and 2.0% respectively. On a monthly basis, the female index fell by 0.5%, while the male index fell by 0.4% in July 2023.
With the exception of the 15-19 years age category (-5.7%), all age groups saw annual increases in the employee index. The age group with the largest annual rise in employees was 65 years and over (+10.4%) followed by those aged 60-64 years (+5.9%).
All economic sectors showed an annual increase in the employee index when compared with July 2022 except for Administrative & Support Service Activities (-1.4%) and Information & Communication (-1.0%). The sectors showing the largest annual rises were Financial, Insurance & Real Estate Activities (+6.5%) and Transportation & Storage (+4.9%).
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (14 September 2023) released Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data, July 2023.
Commenting on the release, John Mullane, Statistician in the Labour Market & Earnings Division, said:
“All but two NACE sectors saw monthly decreases in the numbers employed in July 2023. The largest monthly fall was seen in Accommodation & Food Service Activities (-3.7%), while the largest monthly rise was in Public Administration & Defence; Compulsory Social Security (+0.4%).
Employment was down in all age categories 59 years and under in July 2023, with the largest decrease observed in those aged 15-19 years (-4.9%), followed by the 20-24-year category (-2.0%). The two remaining age groups, 60-64 years-old and 65 years and over, saw monthly increases in July 2023 of 0.2% and 0.4% respectively.”
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.