More than 10 per cent of Irish workers are employed by non-profit bodies, which range from hospitals to community groups, research published yesterday has revealed.
Ireland has a stronger reliance on the sector for jobs than the average European country, the National College of Ireland (NCI) has found.
The preliminary results were announced by Dr Freda Donoghue, of the policy research centre at the NCI, formerly the National College of Industrial Relations.
The non-profit sector includes voluntary hospitals, schools, cultural organisations, community bodies, social service bodies, environmental aid organisations and business and professional bodies.
The research underlines the growth and importance of voluntary organisations in the Republic, both older bodies such as voluntary hospitals and newer ones such as some of the disability organisations.
It found that 11.5 per cent of the non-agricultural workforce is employed in the non-profit sector, compared with an EU average of 6.9 per cent and an international average of 5 per cent.
The sector accounts for 43 per cent of public sector employment. Schools, hospitals, housing associations and other such groups which are essentially self-governing and run by their own boards use public funds to provide social services.
The research underlines the contribution which has been made to the Irish social services by voluntary bodies. The Exchequer provides 78 per cent of funding for the sector with 15 per cent coming from fees and 7 per cent from private sources such as fundraising.
The income and spending of the non-profit sector each amounts to 8 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (a measure of all the wealth generated in the State) compared to 5 per cent internationally.
Education and research account for most jobs in the sector (54 per cent), followed by health services at 28 per cent. The voluntary housing sector accounts for only 4 per cent of non-profit employment.
In some other European countries housing co-ops and housing associations are extremely strong but the figures published yesterday suggest that such bodies have made relatively little progress here although they are generally acknowledged to be responsible for some high-quality developments.
In another measure of the importance of the non-profit sector, Dr Donoghue said it accounts for 17 per cent of service jobs.
The Irish research is part of an international study on the non-profit sectors in over 20 countries.
Dr Donoghue said this is the first time the size and scope of the Irish non-profit sector has been measured.
The study establishes that "Ireland is one of the most economically significant non-profit sectors internationally," she said.
The researchers used data from the national accounts, Government records, census figures and surveys to measure the size of the sector.