• The official seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 7.1 per cent in the second quarter of this year, up from 5.3 per cent for the same period in 2020.
• The level of employment increased by 9.9 per cent (c.+211,000) year-on-year to 2.35 million persons.
• The COVID-adjusted unemployment rate – which counts all PUP recipients as unemployed – was 16.2 per cent at the end of June, and 12.4 per cent at the end of August 2021.
• The COVID-adjusted measure of total employment – again treating all PUP recipients as unemployed - is estimated at 2.12 million at the end of second quarter, up 25 per cent on Q2 2020.
• The number of hours worked per week increased by 24 per cent (14.9 million hours) year-on-year.
The Central Statistics Office today (Friday, 24 September 2021) published the Labour Force Survey (LFS) for the second quarter of this year. The data show a 10 per cent annual increase in the level of employment (+211,00) and, as a result, a fall in the unemployment rate to just over 7 per cent in the second quarter.
The data do not fully capture the impact of the pandemic due the International Labour Organisation definitions of employment and unemployment. For instance, many of those in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment are, for technical reasons, treated as employed. If all PUP recipients were added to the numbers of unemployed the unemployment rate would have been over 16 per cent. However this would still represent a 25 per cent increase in employment on a like-for-like basis with the second quarter last year when PUP numbers reached roughly 600,000. On this adjusted basis, the unemployment rate has subsequently fallen, to around 12½ per cent at end August, and will have fallen further in September in line with PUP numbers.
Commenting on the figures, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar T.D., said: “There is reason to be optimistic about today’s figures. They show thousands of people were able to return to work quickly in quarter two of this year, as public health restrictions started to ease and our vaccination programme picked up. It highlights the importance of the Government’s efforts to help workers and businesses throughout the past 18 months, especially the wage supports which helped businesses maintain the link to their staff.
It is encouraging that we are seeing the momentum of workers returning to their jobs maintained over summer, as demonstrated by the continuing decline in the unemployment rate, which stood at 12.4 percent in August. That is still unacceptably high but I am hopeful that the further reopening over the past couple of months will have brought this down significantly.
I know that many businesses and workers are still only starting to get back on their feet. The Government continues to be there to help those that need it. Our Economic Recovery Plan is now published and sets out how we plan to rebuild back better than before, ultimately having 2.5 million people in work by 2024, more than we had pre-pandemic.’
The Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe T.D., said: “These figures released today are reflective of the traction gained in our labour market since the phased re-opening of our economy and society at the start of April and the improved outlook seen over the summer months. This is evident from the decline in the numbers in receipt of PUP payments, although it is also the case that there is a long way still to go.”
Minister Donohoe added: “The Government continues to play its part in supporting businesses, jobs, and incomes as we safely emerge from the pandemic. The extension of the state income supports, along with the enhanced illness benefit and CRSS support schemes until the next year, demonstrates our committment to bringing Ireland out of the worst of this economic downturn and getting people back to work. The support provided by the Government has paved the way for a rapid recovery in the economy and in the labour market. While this is not yet complete, and recovery has not been uniform across sectors, it is clear that we are moving in the right direction.”
Ends
Note to Editors:
The impact of COVID-19 on the labour market may not be fully captured by the official International Labour Organisation (ILO) measures of employment and unemployment.
For this reason, the change in hours worked represents a reasonable proxy for the impact of the pandemic on the labour market. The number of ‘actual hours worked per week’ increased by 14.9 million hours or 24.4 per cent in the year to the second quarter.
These issues are addressed in detail in Economic Insights, Department of Finance, available at: https://www.gov.ie/en/collection/e2c12-economic-insights/
The latest data from the Department of Social Protection show that just over 111,000 people were in receipt of the PUP as of September 21st, in addition to just under 180,000 persons on the Live Register for the month of August 2021.
In addition, Revenue Commissioners report that almost 320,000 employees were supported by the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme in August 2021.