Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together.

The Central Statistics Office, CSO, produces a number of outputs with employment estimates. The labour force survey, produced by the CSO quarterly, is the official source of estimates of employment in the State. It is mandated at European level and provides figures that are internationally comparable as the official measure of the labour market. Due to the methodology and sample size of the survey, it is not possible to produce reliable county estimates from the labour force survey.

Regional estimates of employment are produced by NUTS 3 level. NUTS are the geocode standard developed and regulated by Eurostat. The NUTS 3 south-west region comprises counties Cork and Kerry. In quarter 1 of 2018, there were 314,800 persons aged between 15 and 89 in employment, based on standard International Labour Organization, ILO, criteria. In the south-west region, in quarter 4 of 2022, there were 368,800 persons aged between 15 and 89 employed. This is an increase of 54,000 persons, or 17.2%.

The NUTS 3 mid-east region comprises counties Kildare, Louth, Meath and Wicklow. In quarter 1 of 2018, there were 317,100 persons aged between 15 and 89 in employment, based on standard ILO criteria. In quarter 4 of 2022, there were 384,800 persons aged between 15 and 89 employed in the mid-east. This is an increase of 67,700 persons, or 21.3%.

This information relates to the overall stock of persons employed at given points in time. It is not possible to determine from the survey whether a job is newly created. These figures, and further data relating to the Irish labour market with a regional breakdown, can be accessed on the CSO website.

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