Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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346. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if a specific industry sector has been identified in the recent increase seen in unemployment figures; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44426/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I am pleased to state that the Irish labour market is performing extremely well. The employment rate has been rising and now stands at 74.2 per cent, the highest in the history of the series, with over 2.6 million people in employment.

Since Q4 2021 the unemployment rate has been below 5 per cent - beyond this level the economy is conventionally considered to be at full employment. Currently, according to the Q2 2023 Labour Force Survey, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the unemployment rate stands at 4.2%, up 0.1% compared to the previous quarter. Accordingly, there has been no recent increase in unemployment numbers once seasonal variations are taken into account. Unemployment data by sector is not available.

Looking at the changing sectoral profile of employment, compared to before the pandemic, Q4 2019, the number of people in employment has increased for almost all sectors, except Agriculture, forestry and fishing, Accommodation and food services, and Administrative and support services, which decreased by 7 percent, 1 percent and 1 percent respectively. The sectors which saw the largest proportional increases in employment were Information and communication, Professional, scientific, and technical activities, and Public Administration and defence, which increased by 36 percent, 24 percent and 21 percent, respectively.

It should be noted that there are a number of supports available to people who become unemployed. The Government’s national employment services strategy, Pathways to Work 2021-2025, commits to supporting those who are unemployed or face disadvantage in the labour market. My Department, which delivers public employment services through Intreo and Intreo partners, offers a range of employment supports to help people prepare for and secure employment. Among the services provided are one-on-one engagements where options are explored, including whether the person is seeking to move sector, and a personal progression plan is agreed. A range of employment supports are available including job search assistance, referral to training or educational courses, the payment of financial incentives for employers through JobsPlus, as well as the provision of work experience combined with training through the Work Placement Experience Programme.

Where IDA client companies are reducing headcount through redundancies, IDA Ireland works with client companies to understand if targeted training support could be an assistance in training and retaining impacted teams, thus mitigating losses, through the use of skills diagnostic tools and training support programmes. Where job losses are occurring, IDA seeks to understand the skills profile of impacted staff, so that there is good awareness of skills becoming available for any company that may be hiring. IDA Ireland client-facing teams have access to a central dashboard of companies that are laying off staff and the skill categories that may be available, to make other companies aware of available skills. This forms part of IDA’s day-to-day interaction with its clients. In addition, Ireland also has recourse to several training and support resources where employees are laid off, or where companies need to invest in employee training.

In this regard, I am confident that we have the appropriate supports in place across Government to support jobseekers and employers as required.