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The Central Statistics Office reported today that in the second quarter of 2005 there were 2,014,800 persons in the labour force which represents an annual increase of 94,500 or 4.9%. This is the highest year on year increase recorded in absolute terms since the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) began, surpassing the record annual increases attained at the end of the last decade.
Over the past ten years the labour force has grown by 556,000 or over 38%, the number of females increased by over 300,000, or almost 55%, while males were up by 254,000 or 28%.
The labour force now accounts for 61.5% of all persons aged 15 and over, compared with 60.0% in the second quarter of 2004 and 53.6% in 1995. In the past year the female participation rate rose strongly from 49.4% to 51.4% and is now almost 12 percentage points higher than the 39.7% recorded in 1995. The male participation rate increased over the year from 70.9% to 71.8% and is now almost 4 percentage points higher than 1995 when it stood at 68%.
graph.
The number of persons in employment grew by 93,000 in the year to reach 1,929,200 in the second quarter of 2005. This is the highest annual growth rate (+5.1%) recorded since the second quarter of 2000. The number of women in employment increased over the year by 48,000 (+6.2%), of which almost 15,000 was accounted for by a rise in the number of part-time workers. The number of males in employment increased by 44,900 (+4.2%) over the same period.
There were 85,600 persons unemployed in the second quarter of 2005, representing an increase of 1,400 in the year. The unemployment rate now stands at 4.2% down from the 4.4% reported in the same quarter last year.
Impact of seasonality on headline figures
When seasonal factors are taken into account the number of persons in employment increased by over 24,000 in the quarter while the numbers unemployed rose by 3,600. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.3% compared with 4.2% in the previous quarter and 4.5% in the second quarter of 2004.
Migration and increased participation fuel labour force growth
Demographic factors, such as the increase in the population of working age and changes in its age structure, added an estimated 54,000 to the labour force over the year. Migration is estimated to have accounted for approximately two-thirds (around 36,000) of this demographic increase. Around one third of the new migrants found employment in the
Construction sector while increases were also recorded in Other production industries, Wholesale &retail, Financial and other business services and Hotels and restaurants.
The balance of 40,000 in the labour force increase was due to higher labour force participation rates. All age groups showed increases in participation rates while female participation rates rose very sharply and, in particular, there was an increase of just under 22,000 in the number of married women in the labour force with their participation rate rising by two percentage points from 49.4% to 51.4%.
The broadest survey-based labour supply indicator, S3, which includes persons outside the labour force who show some interest in obtaining work as well as the unemployed, decreased from 7.6% in the second quarter of 2004 to 7.3% in the second quarter of 2005.
Employment increases in most sectors
Employment in the
Construction (+36,400) and Financial and other business services (+20,100) sectors grew strongly in the year to the second quarter of 2005.
Other areas in the services sector recorded employment growth to varying degrees.
Agriculture, forestry and fishing continued to show a decline (-3,300) while there was a fall of 6,400 in the numbers employed in Other production industries.
The Construction sector accounted for over three quarters of the overall growth in the number of males in employment with a further one fifth attributable to the Financial and other business services.
There was a greater spread across the sectors in relation to the growth in female employment. Almost a quarter of the annual growth in female employment was attributable to the Financial and other business services, while other significant sectors included Health (23%), Public administration and defence (18%), Hotels and restaurants (14%) and Wholesale and retail (10%).
All occupational categories with the exception of
Managers and administrators (-2,500) increased in the year. The largest increases were in Craft and related (+28,300) and Clerical and secretarial (+15,600).
There were 1,594,200 employees in the second quarter of 2005, an annual increase of 87,100. This comprised an increase of 47,500 females and 39,700 males. The number of self-employed persons increased by 5,600 to 321,200 in the year while the number of persons assisting relatives increased slightly to 13,700.
Employment rate increases for all age groups
The employment rate for persons aged 15-64 continued to rise in the year to the second quarter of 2005 from 65.5% to 67.1%. The rates for both males and females increased over the year, with the male rate rising from 75.2% to 76.2% and the female rate rising from 55.8% to 58.0%. Strong employment rate growth was particularly evident among the older age groups. The employment rate for males aged 60-64 increased from 53.5% to 58.2% while the rate for females aged 55-59 increased from 41.5% to 45.1% over the year.
The number of persons in part-time employment increased by 20,600 in the year to the second quarter of 2005. Most (14,800) of this rise was accounted for by increased numbers of females taking up part-time work. The sectors that showed the largest annual increases in part-time employment were the
Financial and other business services (+4,800), Education (+3,000) and Health (+2,800).
The average working week in the second quarter of 2005 was 36.9 hours, down slightly from the 37.0 hours recorded in the same quarter last year. The number of persons working
variable hours increased by 16,400 over the year. See table 5.
Slight increase in numbers unemployed
There were 53,200 males and 32,400 females unemployed in the second quarter of 2005, representing an annual increase of 2,600 for females and a fall of 1,200 for males. The largest annual increase in the numbers unemployed was concentrated in the 20-24 year age group where the numbers increased by 1,800 to 18,300. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased slightly over the quarter from 4.2% to 4.3%.
Long-term unemployment is estimated to have increased over the year by 1,300 to 27,600 while short-term unemployment increased by 300 to 57,700 over the same period. Those aged 45 or over (+1,200) showed the largest increase in short-term unemployment. The increase in long-term unemployment was distributed fairly evenly with those aged 15-24 showing the highest increase (+600) over the year.
Regional comparisons
Employment grew by 26,600 (+5.7%) in the Border, Midland and Western region and by 66,400 (+4.9%) in the Southern and Eastern region in the year to the second quarter of 2005. All of the annual increase in unemployment occurred in the Southern and Eastern region (+1,600), while there was a slight fall (-200) in the Border, Midland and Western region.
The participation rate in the Southern and Eastern region increased from 60.7% to 62.2% between the second quarters of 2004 and 2005. The participation rate in the Border, Midland and Western region also showed an increase of 1.5 percentage points to 59.6% over the same period.
At NUTS3 level employment grew in all regions with the Midlands (+7.0%) and the West (+6.5%) showing the highest percentage increases over the year. The number of persons in employment in the Dublin region increased by over 24,000 (+4.4%).
