The CSO reported today that on average, employment increased by 87,000 or 4.7% last year. This is the highest annual rate of growth since the increases of 6.3% and 4.8% recorded in 1999 and 2000 respectively. The rate of growth recorded in 2004 was 3.0%. The average number of males in employment in 2005 was 43,400 (+4.0%) higher than in the previous year while the average number of female workers was up by 43,700 (+5.6%).
There were 1,980,600 persons in employment in the fourth quarter of 2005, an increase of 86,500 (+4.6%) in the year
. The number of males in employment increased by 48,100 (+4.4%) over the same period. Female employment increased by 38,400 (+4.8%) with over 14,300 of this increase attributable to a rise in the number of part-time workers. It is estimated that the increase in the number of Non-Irish nationals in employment accounted for approximately half of the overall year on year increase. There were 91,300 persons unemployed in the fourth quarter of 2005, representing a seasonal decrease of 5,400 in the quarter and an annual increase of 5,700 on the fourth quarter of 2004. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased in the quarter to 4.4%.
The labour force increased by 92,200 to 2,071,900 in the year to the fourth quarter of 2005. This accounted for 62.2% of all persons aged 15 or over compared with 61.0% in the fourth quarter of 2004. The male participation rate increased in the year from 71.5% to 72.5% while the female rate increased from 50.8% to 52.1%. Non-Irish nationals are estimated to account for around 9% of the labour force compared with almost 7% in the last quarter of 2004.
Migration and increased participation continue to 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 62,000 to the labour force over the year. Net inward migration is estimated to have accounted for approximately three-quarters of this demographic increase
. The demographic factor was particularly evident in the case of the 25-34 age group where a rise in the labour force of almost 33,000 was recorded in the year.
Increased labour force participation accounted for the balance of 30,000 in the annual labour force growth. All age groups recorded increases in participation rates while female participation rates continued to rise sharply. There was an increase of over 30,000 in the number of married women in the labour force with their participation rate rising by over two percentage points from 49.8% to 52.0% between the fourth quarters of 2004 and 2005.
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, increased slightly from 7.6% in the fourth quarter of 2004 to 7.7% in the fourth quarter of 2005.
Construction, distribution and business services sectors account for over two thirds of employment growth
Employment in the
Construction (+25,800), Wholesale & retail trade (+19,600) and Financial and other business services (+15,300) sectors continued to grow strongly in the year to the fourth quarter of 2005. Almost 40% of the year on year growth in the Wholesale & retail trade sector and just over 35% of the growth in the Financial and other business services sector can be attributed to an increase in the numbers working part-time. All other areas in the services sector also recorded employment growth over the year. In contrast, there was a fall of 12,900 in the numbers employed in the Other production industries sector.
All occupational categories with the exception of
Managers and administrators, which showed no change, increased in the year. The largest increases were in Sales (+18,500) and Craft and related (+18,300).
There were 1,653,400 employees in the fourth quarter of 2005, an annual increase of 88,300. This comprised an increase of 48,300 males and 40,000 females. The number of self-employed persons decreased by 900 to 313,800 in the year while the number of persons assisting relatives also decreased by 900 to 13,400.
Increase in numbers unemployed
There were 54,300 males and 37,000 females unemployed in the fourth quarter of 2005, representing annual increases of 1,500 and 4,200 for men and women respectively. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased over the quarter from 4.3% to 4.4%. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for men was 4.6% while that for women was 4.2%.
In the fourth quarter of 2005 there was an annual increase of 7,000 in the number of persons whose duration of unemployment was less than a year (i.e. short-term unemployed). There was a decrease of 1,300 in the number of long-term unemployed, concentrated in the 15-24 age category. The corresponding long-term unemployment rate fell to 1.3% from the 1.5% recorded for the same period last year.
Over 65,000 from the new EU Member States in the labour force
Tentative estimates of the labour force status of Non-Irish nationals are presented for the first time in the Annex. These show that there was an estimated 253,500 Foreign nationals aged 15 years of age and over in the State in the last quarter of 005. Just over 171,000 were in employment while almost 12,000 were unemployed according to the ILO criteria. Nationals of the new EU Accession states were the fastest growing category with the numbers in the labour force increasing from just under 30,000 in the last quarter of 2004 to over 65,000 in the most recent quarter.
In the fourth quarter of 2005 Foreign nationals accounted for 21.0% of workers in the
Hotels & restaurants sector and around 10% of both the Construction and Other production industries sectors. The greatest increase in Non-Irish national workers was in the Construction sector where the numbers employed increased by almost 10,000. Other production industries also recorded an increase of just over 7,000 despite the overall decline in employment in this sector.
Foreign nationals accounted for 4,500 of the overall increase of 5,700 in the numbers unemployed between the fourth quarters of 2004 and 2005.
Regional comparisons
Employment grew by 15,700 (+3.2%) in the Border, Midland and Western region and by 70,800 (+5.0%) in the Southern and Eastern region in the year to the fourth quarter of 2005. There was an increase of 4,200 in the numbers unemployed in the Southern and Eastern region while there was an increase of 1,400 in the Border, Midland and Western region.
The participation rate in the Southern and Eastern region increased from 61.5% to 62.9% between the fourth quarters of 2004 and 2005. The participation rate in theBorder, Midland and Western region also increased, showing an increase of 0.4 percentage points to 60.1% over the same period.
At NUTS3 level employment grew in all regions with the South-West (+6.4%) and the Mid-West (+6.3%) showing the highest percentage increases over the year.
The number of persons in employment that are resident in the Dublin region increased by over 22,000 (+4.0%).
