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Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data May 2023

The Monthly Employee Index increased by 2.7% in the 12 months to May 2023

Online ISSN: 2811-5791

CSO statistical publication, 12 July 2023, 11am

A CSO Frontier Series Output

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.

Key Findings

The seasonally adjusted employee index fell by 0.2% in the month to May 2023.
On an annual basis the index increased by 2.7% to May 2023. The female employee index rose by 3.1%, while the male index was up by 2.3% for the same period.
All employee indices in the age categories from 15 years to 59 years had a monthly decline in May 2023. The largest fall was in the 15-19 years age group (-1.1%). The 65 years and over age group saw an increase of 0.3% followed by 60-64 years category which was up 0.1%.
The NACE economic sectors that had the largest monthly positive changes in May 2023 were Education (+1.0%), Accommodation & Food Service Activities (+0.7%), followed by Transportation & Storage (+0.6%). The largest monthly decline (-1.4%) occurred in Construction.
In the 12 months to May 2023, the Financial, Insurance & Real Estate Activities sector saw the largest rise in the number of employees (+7.2%).

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (12 July 2023) released Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data, May 2023.

Commenting on the release, John Mullane, Statistician in the Labour Market & Earnings Division, said:

“Eight NACE sectors saw monthly decreases in the numbers employed in May 2023 while two remained unchanged. The largest monthly fall was seen in Construction (-1.4%). The remaining five sectors showed a monthly increase, with the largest monthly rise in Education (+1.0%).

Employment across six age groups was down in the month to May 2023. Those aged 60-64 years and those aged 65 and over both had a monthly rise in their indices of 0.1%, and 0.3% respectively. The largest decline was observed in the 15-19-year category (-1.1%).”

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.

Seasonal Adjustment

The Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data release is a very short time series (four 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.

Revisions and Rounding

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.

Headline Table

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
May 2022	2,374,400	110.2	0.0	13.4
April 2023	2,442,600	113.4	0.3	2.9
May 2023	2,437,900	113.2	-0.2	2.7

Open in Excel: Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data May 2023 Headline Table (XLS 10KB)

Employee Index Totals, Seasonally Adjusted

The seasonally adjusted index increased by 2.7% in May 2023 when compared with May 2022. March 2021 was the last month to show a negative annual change (-10.8%) for the employee index when compared with the previous year.

Table 1 Employee Index and Total Number of Employees, Seasonally Adjusted

Employee Index by Sex, Seasonally Adjusted

The female and male indices grew on an annual basis by 3.1% and 2.3% respectively. On a monthly basis, the female index fell by 0.2%, while the male index fell by 0.4% in May 2023.

Table 2 Employee Index by Sex, Seasonally Adjusted

Table 2a Number of Employees by Sex, Seasonally Adjusted

Table 2a Number of employees by Sex, Seasonally Adjusted
		Male			Female			Both Sexes
Year	Month	Number of Employees	Monthly % Change	Annual % Change	Number of Employees	Monthly % Change	Annual % Change	Number of Employees	Monthly % Change	Annual % Change
2021	May	1,058,200	2.5	8.3	1,031,000	3.9	13.5	2,094,500	3.2	10.8
	June	1,082,300	2.3	8.0	1,054,400	2.3	13.1	2,141,100	2.2	10.4
	July	1,095,900	1.3	5.4	1,067,300	1.2	8.7	2,166,500	1.2	7.0
	August	1,106,200	0.9	4.6	1,069,600	0.2	7.3	2,177,800	0.5	5.9
	September	1,119,900	1.2	6.1	1,079,300	0.9	7.5	2,195,700	0.8	6.8
	October	1,133,800	1.2	7.1	1,093,200	1.3	8.7	2,224,700	1.3	7.9
	November	1,139,400	0.5	10.3	1,097,400	0.4	13.7	2,229,000	0.2	12.0
	December	1,150,100	0.9	8.0	1,111,600	1.3	9.5	2,256,200	1.2	8.8

2022	January	1,164,900	1.3	11.8	1,126,700	1.4	14.3	2,293,100	1.6	13.0
	February	1,178,800	1.2	17.4	1,145,600	1.7	20.0	2,323,400	1.3	18.8
	March	1,186,700	0.7	17.0	1,164,500	1.7	19.3	2,350,200	1.2	18.2
	April	1,192,200	0.5	15.5	1,177,400	1.1	18.6	2,373,700	1.0	16.9
	May	1,192,200	0.0	12.7	1,175,700	-0.1	14.0	2,374,400	0.0	13.4
	June	1,191,500	-0.1	10.1	1,169,600	-0.5	10.9	2,364,900	-0.4	10.5
	July	1,188,500	-0.2	8.4	1,159,800	-0.8	8.7	2,351,300	-0.6	8.5
	August	1,191,900	0.3	7.7	1,156,200	-0.3	8.1	2,348,900	-0.1	7.9
	September	1,199,200	0.6	7.1	1,162,100	0.5	7.7	2,359,500	0.5	7.5
	October	1,200,700	0.1	5.9	1,163,900	0.2	6.5	2,360,700	0.1	6.1
	November	1,208,200	0.6	6.0	1,174,900	0.9	7.1	2,377,700	0.7	6.7
	December	1,214,800	0.5	5.6	1,181,700	0.6	6.3	2,392,600	0.6	6.0

2023	January	1,219,400	0.4	4.7	1,189,600	0.7	5.6	2,407,000	0.6	5.0
	February	1,223,900	0.4	3.8	1,200,700	0.9	4.8	2,422,600	0.6	4.3
	March	1,226,000	0.2	3.3	1,208,300	0.6	3.8	2,435,000	0.5	3.6
	April	1,224,200	-0.1	2.7	1,214,100	0.5	3.1	2,442,600	0.3	2.9
	May	1,219,900	-0.4	2.3	1,211,800	-0.2	3.1	2,437,900	-0.2	2.7
Source: PMOD Revenue Commissioner's Employee Tax Data

Open in Excel: Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data May 2023 Table 2a (XLS 13KB)

Age Groups

With the exception of the 15-19-years category (-3.5%), 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 (+8.7%) followed by those aged 60-64 years (+5.2%).

Table 3 Employee Index by Age Group, Seasonally Adjusted

Table 3a Number of Employees by Age Group, Seasonally Adjusted

Economic Sectors

All economic sectors showed an annual increase in the employee index when compared with May 2022. The sectors showing the largest annual gains were Financial, Insurance & Real Estate Activities (+7.2%) and Transportation & Storage (+5.8%).

Table 4 Employee Index classified by NACE Rev.2 Economic Sector, Seasonally Adjusted

Table 4a Number of Employees classified by NACE Rev.2 Economic Sector, Seasonally Adjusted

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Table 3 Employee Index by Age Group, Seasonally Adjusted
	Employee Index (Base Year 2019=100)			Monthly % Change	Annual % Change
Age Group	May 2022	April 2023	May 2023	Monthly % Change	Annual % Change
15 - 19 years	140.6	137.3	135.7	-1.1	-3.5
20 - 24 years	114.7	117.1	116.2	-0.7	1.3
25 - 34 years	105.1	107.8	107.5	-0.3	2.2
35 - 44 years	104.5	106.8	106.4	-0.4	1.9
45 - 54 years	112.4	117.5	117.3	-0.2	4.4
55 - 59 years	111.7	116.0	115.9	-0.1	3.7
60 - 64 years	116.3	122.2	122.3	0.1	5.2
65 years and over	122.4	132.7	133.1	0.3	8.7
15 years and over	110.2	113.4	113.2	-0.2	2.7
Source: PMOD Revenue Commissioner's Employee Tax Data

Table 3a Number of Employees by Age Group, Seasonally Adjusted
	Number of Employees			Monthly % Change	Annual % Change
Age Group	May 2022	April 2023	May 2023	Monthly % Change	Annual % Change
15 - 19 years	126,600	123,600	122,200	-1.1	-3.5
20 - 24 years	256,900	262,200	260,200	-0.7	1.3
25 - 34 years	549,100	563,200	561,200	-0.3	2.2
35 - 44 years	605,900	619,500	617,300	-0.4	1.9
45 - 54 years	488,100	510,200	509,300	-0.2	4.4
55 - 59 years	177,700	184,600	184,400	-0.1	3.7
60 - 64 years	117,500	123,500	123,600	0.1	5.2
65 years and over	53,100	57,600	57,700	0.3	8.7
15 years and over	2,374,400	2,442,600	2,437,900	-0.2	2.7
Source: PMOD Revenue Commissioner's Employee Tax Data

Table 4 Employee Index by NACE Economic Sector, Seasonally Adjusted
	Employee Index (Base Year 2019=100)			Monthly % Change	Annual % Change
Sector	May 2022	April 2023	May 2023	Monthly % Change	Annual % Change
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A)	106.8	108.8	108.0	-0.8	1.1
Industry (B to E)	107.5	110.3	110.3	0.0	2.7
Construction (F)	113.4	117.1	115.4	-1.4	1.8
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G)	107.5	109.3	108.9	-0.4	1.3
Transportation and storage (H)	108.3	114.0	114.6	0.6	5.8
Accommodation and food service activities (I)	117.5	117.9	118.8	0.7	1.0
Information and communication (J)	120.3	123.8	122.7	-0.9	2.0
Financial, insurance and real estate activities (K,L)	105.3	112.6	112.9	0.3	7.2
Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)	113.9	119.1	119.1	0.0	4.6
Administrative and support service activities (N)	109.2	111.1	110.4	-0.6	1.1
Public administration and defence; compulsory social security (O)	110.5	111.2	111.3	0.1	0.8
Education (P)	112.3	113.4	114.6	1.0	2.0
Human health and social work activities (Q)	110.8	115.8	115.7	-0.1	4.5
Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities (R,S)	100.8	102.8	102.7	-0.1	1.8
Services (T,U)	112.4	118.4	117.8	-0.6	4.8
Not stated	0	0	0	..	..

Aggregated sectors
Cultural and Creative Industries	102.1	103.6	102.3	-1.3	0.2
Tourism Industries	116.1	117.0	117.9	0.8	1.6

All economic sectors	110.2	113.4	113.2	-0.2	2.7
Source: PMOD Revenue Commissioner's Employee Tax Data

Table 4A Number of Employees by NACE Economic Sector, Seasonally Adjusted
	Number of Employees			Monthly % Change	Annual % Change
Sector	May 2022	April 2023	May 2023	Monthly % Change	Annual % Change
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A)	27,800	28,300	28,100	-0.8	1.1
Industry (B to E)	255,000	261,800	261,800	0.0	2.7
Construction (F)	129,600	133,800	131,900	-1.4	1.8
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G)	379,700	386,200	384,600	-0.4	1.3
Transportation and storage (H)	85,300	89,800	90,300	0.6	5.8
Accommodation and food service activities (I)	216,600	217,400	218,900	0.7	1.0
Information and communication (J)	122,000	125,500	124,500	-0.9	2.0
Financial, insurance and real estate activities (K,L)	119,400	127,700	128,000	0.3	7.2
Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)	150,300	157,100	157,200	0.0	4.6
Administrative and support service activities (N)	157,700	160,400	159,400	-0.6	1.1
Public administration and defence; compulsory social security (O)	196,000	197,300	197,600	0.1	0.8
Education (P)	167,700	169,300	171,100	1.0	2.0
Human health and social work activities (Q)	267,000	279,200	278,900	-0.1	4.5
Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities (R,S)	97,700	99,600	99,500	-0.1	1.8
Services (T,U)	4,300	4,500	4,500	-0.6	4.8
Not stated	0	0	0	..	..

Aggregated sectors
Cultural and Creative Industries	36,000	36,500	36,100	-1.3	0.2
Tourism Industries	231,400	233,100	235,000	0.8	1.6

All economic sectors	2,374,400	2,442,600	2,437,900	-0.2	2.7
Source: PMOD Revenue Commissioner's Employee Tax Data

Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data May 2023