Female employment up 90% since 2000
Ireland’s labour market remains strong by historical standards, supported by record levels of total employment, though growth has moderated compared to the post-pandemic peak.
Steven Lucas, a senior Central Statistics Office (CSO) statistician has said that total employment reached a high of 2.84 million people in the second quarter (Q2) of this year, with an employment rate of 74.3%.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 5.1%, the data shows.
Healthcare
Female employment has surged by nearly 90% since 2000, surpassing 1.3 million workers and dominating sectors such as healthcare and education.
Driven by an ageing population, better health, and flexible options, workers 55 and over now make up roughly 20% of the labour force, with significant increases among those 65 and older.
Younger workers (15-24) are more vulnerable to economic cycles, recording an employment rate of 45.2% and an unemployment rate of 13.2% in Q2 2026.
Close to one million people reported working from home at least some of the time in Q2, though remote-work numbers have drifted downward from earlier peaks.
Non-Irish nationals
Non-Irish nationals have also driven a substantial share of employee growth since 2019.
Average weekly earnings surpassed €1,000 for the first time in 2025, rising by nearly 24% between Q1 2021 and Q1 2026.
This matches the 24% increase in the Consumer Price Index over the same period.
The official estimate of employment is drawn from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), where 32,500 households across the country are sampled every three months.
The CSO also harnesses alternative administrative data sources, gathered by other public-service bodies.
Overall, Ireland had seen record levels of employment and low unemployment since the pandemic, but more recent figures showed that growth had become more subdued, Lucas said.
There were over 1.3 million women in employment in Q2 2026 – up almost 90% since Q1 2000.
Women now account for a large majority of workers in sectors such as human health and social work, and education.
Women remain more concentrated in part-time work, but the scale and composition of female employment has changed substantially.
The statistician added that those 55 and over accounted for around 20% of the labour force in Q2 2026, almost double what it was in 2000.
Work for those 65 and over is up by almost 30% since 2022.
This reflected an ageing population, as well as changing retirement decisions and financial circumstances, improved health, and the availability of flexible work, Steven Lucas said.
The employment rate for 15 to 24-year-olds was 45.2% in Q2 2026, down from 46.7% a year earlier, while the youth unemployment rate was 13.2%.
That compares with an unemployment rate of 4.2% for people aged between 25 and 74.
Working from home
While close to one million people reported working from home at least sometimes in Q2 2026, although that number has fallen over the year, over 1.8 million people in employment reported that they never worked from home.
Non-Irish nationals accounted for 61.4% of the increase in employee numbers between 2019 and 2024, with particularly high representation in administrative and support services, accommodation and food services, and information and communication.
Average weekly earnings rose by just under 24% between Q1 2021 and Q1 2026, from €861 to €1,065.