The accommodation and food service sector once again suffered the largest monthly decline in employment in July, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The agency’s monthly estimates of payroll employees, which utilises real-time Revenue data to detect trends in the labour market, shows employment in the sector dipped 0.8 per cent, which was the largest fall, followed by a dip of 0.6 per cent in the information and communication sector.
Overall, the seasonally adjusted employee index fell by 0.2 per cent in the month to July. The monthly employee index for women increased by 0.1 per cent, while there was no change for men over the same period.
The sector with the largest monthly increase was public administration and defence, which rose 0.6 per cent, followed by education, which increased by 0.5 per cent.
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By age, the most dramatic falls in the monthly index to July were seen among younger employees, with the 15-19 years category down 3.9 per cent, while the 20-24 years age group was 0.9 per cent weaker. The 60-64 years age group saw the largest rise in employees in the month, up by 0.3 per cent.
Annually, the seasonally adjusted employee index was up by 2.4 per cent in the 12 months to July in keeping with recent trends. March 2021 was the last month to show an annual decrease in the employee index, when it sank by more than 11 per cent.
On an annual basis, the index for women increased by 2.8 per cent, while the male index rose by 2.1 per cent.
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With the exception of the 15-19 years of age category, which was down 3.7 per cent, all age groups saw employment prospects improve over the past year.
[ Unemployment drops slightly to 4.3 per cent in August - CSOOpens in new window ]
The group with the largest annual rise in employees was those age 65 years and over (11.4 per cent), followed by those aged 60-64 years (5.8 per cent).
The sector that observed the largest rise in the number of employees over the year was human health and social work activities, which increased by 6 per cent. That was followed by both services and public administration and defence, which were each up 5.4 per cent. The largest fall was recorded in information and communication, which was down 2.5 per cent.
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