Thomas Lyons 
The CSO’s monthly estimate of payroll employees increased by 5.4% in the 12 months to December 2022, which is well above the employment level in February 2020 when the Covid pandemic first hit.
The Accommodation & Food Service Activities sector saw the largest increase in employees at 11.1% over the year to December, despite talk of higher utility costs impacting the hospitality sector.
According to CSO statistician John Mullane, “all age groups showed an increase in the employee index month-on-month apart from those aged 15-19 years in October 2022 (-2.4%). All age groups saw annual increases in the employee index.”
The employee index saw the largest monthly rise in December in the age category of 65 and over (+0.6%), while the 35-44 age group had the smallest increase (+0.2%).
The CSO’s payroll employee count, which is based on Revenue data, excludes self-employed people who do not pay themselves under the PAYE system.
Employers are required to report their employees’ pay and deductions in real-time to Revenue each time they operate payroll, and information is provided to Revenue at an individual payslip level. The CSO then uses the pseudonymised data.
In December 2022, the payroll employees totalled 2,372,000, up from 2,250,000 in December 2021.
Overall, despite the cost of living crisis, employment in Ireland has remained robust, and the rise in payroll employees is a positive sign for the economy.
This data provides some good news for the Irish economy, which has been facing some difficulties in recent months due to the rising cost of living.
While many have expressed concern about the impact of higher energy costs and inflation on businesses, it appears that these factors have not yet had a significant impact on employment.
