Written answers
Wednesday, 12 November 2025
Department of An Taoiseach
Labour Market
Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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184. To ask the Taoiseach to provide CSO data on labour force participation, migration, and tax status of persons aged 22-40 years of age, by highest education level; and to support an assessment of post-education retention and contribution to the economy. [61185/25]
Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The exact information requested by the Deputy is not available.
The CSO does not provide data on the tax residency status of persons. The CSO does not provide data on the lifetime cost of education or the recoupment cost of education.
The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is the official source of labour market estimates for the State. The most recent LFS figures available are for Q2 2025.
Table 1 contains LFS estimates for total number of persons in the labour force and participation rate for persons aged 20-44 years of age broken down by citizenship and highest level of educational attainment from Q2 2015 to Q2 2025.
| Total persons in Labour Force and Participation Rate (ILO) for persons aged 20-44 years of age by Citizenship and Level of Education, Q2 2015 - Q2 2025 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |||
| Citizenship | Highest level of Education | ILO Status | Q2 | Q2 | Q2 | Q2 | Q2 | Q2 | Q2 | Q2 | Q2 | Q2 | Q2 |
| Irish | Primary or below | Total Labour force, 000s | 15.3 | 16.8 | 10.4 | 12.5 | 10.1 | [6.8] | * | [7.5] | [8.2] | * | * |
| Participation Rate, % | 44.4% | 45.1% | 37.0% | 39.7% | 32.2% | 25.1% | 20.2% | 35.6% | 30.2% | 29.7% | 23.5% | ||
| Lower Secondary | Total Labour force, 000s | 80.6 | 70.7 | 67.8 | 60.8 | 56.7 | 39.9 | 42.9 | 43.2 | 43.8 | 32.6 | 33.8 | |
| Participation Rate, % | 72.2% | 68.3% | 66.7% | 65.9% | 63.6% | 52.2% | 63.0% | 64.7% | 65.7% | 58.4% | 60.6% | ||
| Higher Secpndary | Total Labour force, 000s | 261.3 | 261.8 | 257.0 | 256.5 | 278.1 | 215.7 | 267.6 | 253.9 | 284.8 | 271.4 | 269.0 | |
| Participation Rate, % | 75.0% | 77.4% | 74.6% | 73.8% | 76.6% | 61.2% | 73.7% | 74.3% | 77.8% | 78.1% | 78.9% | ||
| Post Secondary non-tertiary | Total Labour force, 000s | 150.2 | 163.7 | 161.1 | 163.4 | 167.0 | 138.5 | 145.7 | 150.8 | 144.4 | 152.3 | 148.1 | |
| Participation Rate, % | 83.3% | 84.1% | 82.9% | 82.7% | 83.2% | 70.9% | 81.9% | 83.0% | 83.5% | 84.6% | 85.9% | ||
| Third level non-honours | Total Labour force, 000s | 146.1 | 142.2 | 133.1 | 117.0 | 117.3 | 106.9 | 110.4 | 136.3 | 117.9 | 121.8 | 112.8 | |
| Participation Rate, % | 88.0% | 88.3% | 87.7% | 89.5% | 88.9% | 81.0% | 88.0% | 90.2% | 90.4% | 92.4% | 91.9% | ||
| Third level honours or above | Total Labour force, 000s | 438.7 | 439.6 | 458.3 | 455.3 | 447.9 | 462.1 | 509.6 | 504.4 | 493.0 | 504.9 | 538.2 | |
| Participation Rate, % | 92.4% | 92.3% | 93.3% | 92.5% | 92.6% | 88.7% | 92.3% | 95.0% | 94.2% | 95.2% | 94.8% | ||
| Other/Not stated | Total Labour force, 000s | 22.0 | 20.8 | 19.5 | 22.0 | 18.7 | 16.9 | 20.4 | 18.4 | 14.9 | 19.9 | 16.3 | |
| Participation Rate, % | 74.0% | 78.9% | 75.6% | 74.7% | 72.6% | 73.1% | 80.8% | 83.8% | 73.0% | 80.7% | 75.1% | ||
| All | Total Labour force, 000s | 1114.3 | 1115.5 | 1107.1 | 1087.5 | 1095.7 | 986.8 | 1101.6 | 1114.6 | 1107.0 | 1109.2 | 1122.9 | |
| Participation Rate, % | 82.8% | 83.4% | 82.8% | 82.3% | 82.6% | 74.4% | 82.4% | 84.7% | 84.7% | 85.9% | 86.3% | ||
| Non-Irish | Primary or below | Total Labour force, 000s | [3.3] | [4.3] | [3.5] | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
| Participation Rate, % | 54.9% | 74.4% | 56.7% | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | ||
| Lower Secondary | Total Labour force, 000s | 7.0 | [6.8] | [5.1] | 13.8 | [9.2] | * | * | * | * | * | [11.3] | |
| Participation Rate, % | 62.7% | 71.5% | 62.9% | 76.3% | 66.6% | [61.1%] | * | * | [71.4%] | * | [78.7%] | ||
| Higher Secpndary | Total Labour force, 000s | 61.8 | 59.2 | 62.4 | 66.2 | 69.0 | 54.6 | 51.6 | 72.8 | 80.5 | 81.0 | 82.1 | |
| Participation Rate, % | 71.4% | 75.2% | 76.6% | 78.2% | 78.7% | 65.4% | 71.1% | 80.5% | 86.1% | 79.4% | 84.6% | ||
| Post Secondary non-tertiary | Total Labour force, 000s | 27.6 | 31.9 | 28.8 | 34.9 | 38.1 | 35.0 | 36.7 | 40.1 | 38.5 | 38.5 | 32.5 | |
| Participation Rate, % | 81.6% | 84.0% | 80.3% | 78.9% | 78.3% | 71.3% | 90.7% | 89.1% | 88.1% | 89.3% | 86.8% | ||
| Third level non-honours | Total Labour force, 000s | 30.7 | 33.4 | 28.9 | 40.0 | 40.3 | 45.3 | 38.2 | 43.0 | 52.9 | 61.2 | 71.9 | |
| Participation Rate, % | 82.8% | 82.7% | 79.8% | 86.6% | 80.7% | 75.9% | 86.5% | 85.7% | 89.2% | 89.8% | 87.3% | ||
| Third level honours or above | Total Labour force, 000s | 88.4 | 104.2 | 114.8 | 131.3 | 131.0 | 133.5 | 155.7 | 188.6 | 214.3 | 229.5 | 232.4 | |
| Participation Rate, % | 77.9% | 82.1% | 82.1% | 85.9% | 85.3% | 79.9% | 88.5% | 90.1% | 89.9% | 91.1% | 90.8% | ||
| Other/Not stated | Total Labour force, 000s | 34.5 | 29.8 | 29.7 | 17.9 | 18.4 | [11.6] | [25.8] | 15.0 | 16.1 | 28.5 | 21.5 | |
| Participation Rate, % | 80.1% | 76.6% | 82.6% | 74.0% | 80.6% | [74.6%] | 65.3% | 79.2% | 78.6% | 89.0% | 81.5% | ||
| All | Total Labour force, 000s | 253.3 | 269.6 | 273.2 | 305.5 | 308.0 | 291.1 | 317.6 | 371.9 | 411.0 | 446.5 | 454.1 | |
| Participation Rate, % | 76.5% | 79.7% | 79.5% | 81.9% | 80.6% | 73.6% | 82.2% | 86.3% | 87.7% | 87.6% | 87.5% | ||
| All | Primary or below | Total Labour force, 000s | 18.5 | 21.0 | 13.9 | 13.9 | 12.1 | [9.7] | * | 13.0 | [9.7] | [8.4] | [7.1] |
| Participation Rate, % | 45.9% |
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