Number of people in employment rises to 2.8 million – CSO
The estimated number of people in employment in the first quarter of 2025 stood at just under 2.8 million, up 3.3% compared with a year ago.
The latest Labour Force Survey from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) also shows that there was an increase in the unemployment rate in the first three months of the year, rising to 4.3% from 4.1% compared to the previous year.
The economic sectors that saw the largest year-on-year increases in employment were education, which increased by 21,500 or 9.3%, while financial, insurance & real estate activities increased by 15,600 or 11.5%.
The largest decrease in employment was observed in wholesale & retail trade; repair of motor vehicles & motorcycles – down 8,200 or 2.5%.
Today’s CSO figures also reveal that the estimated total labour force stood at 2,918,300, up 3.5% from the previous year.
Unemployment
The number of people who were unemployed increased by 9,000, or 7.8%, to 124,200.
The youth unemployment rate, for those aged 15-24 years, stood at 9.5% in the first quarter of the year, up from 8.8% a year ago.
The total number of unemployed people in this age group was 33,100, an increase of 2,600, or 8.5%, from a year earlier.
The long-term unemployment rate decreased from 1% in the first quarter of last year to 0.9% this year.
Remote working
The number of people who work from home sometimes, for at least one hour, rose to 480,400 in the first quarter of the year.
This is the highest level since the series of records began.
The number of people who said they never work from home fell to 1.75 million.
554,500 people said they usually work from home.
“The estimated total number of hours worked in quarter 1 2025 was 86.5 million hours per week, which was 1 million more hours worked per week when compared with Q1 2024,” said Colin Hanley, CSO Statistician in the Labour Market & Earnings Division.
“The year-on-year change in hours worked varied across the different economic sectors,” he noted.
“The information & communication, and education sectors both saw an additional 500,000 hours worked when compared with Q1 2024,” Mr Hanley said.
Article Source – Number of people in employment rises to 2.8 million – CSO – RTE