Thomas Lyons 
The Irish economy has been on an upward trajectory, with employment growing across all sectors, including the technology industry. Despite multinational companies like Twitter, Stripe, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta announcing major layoffs in recent months, the number of people employed in the information, communication, and technology (ICT) sector in Ireland has increased to 125,900 in February, up from 118,900 a year earlier. This growth is a positive sign for the country’s economy, which has seen an increase in employment across all sectors.
It is worth noting that Facebook’s parent company, Meta, announced another 50 job cuts in Ireland, mainly from the company’s recruitment team. This is in addition to the 350 people who were made redundant at Meta in Ireland as part of their first round of job cuts. However, despite these setbacks, the Irish economy has continued to grow, with the number of people employed across all sectors increasing by 96,200 to 2.41 million, according to the February estimates of payrolls from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
All economic sectors reported increases in the employee index, with the financial, insurance, and property sector reporting the highest increase of 10.5% compared to February 2022. This sector employs about 125,400 people, according to the figures. The accommodation and food services sector reported the second-highest increase, followed by the tourism sector. The wholesale and retail trade sector, which includes auto repairs, employed the largest number of people at 378,500, an increase of 2% in the year. The CSO index also shows that the number of women employed grew faster than men over the course of the year, with a 4.6% increase compared to 3.9% for men.
While the ICT multinationals employ 164,600 people in Ireland, an increase of almost 30% since before the onset of the pandemic, the country has not been immune to the fallout of the large number of layoffs across these companies in recent months. The Central Bank had estimated that by the end of February, the ICT giants announced 87,330 global layoffs, of which almost 2,310 layoffs could land in Ireland. However, official data, forecasts from the government and independent economists, as well as anecdotal evidence, suggest that the tech layoffs are having little long-lasting effect as the Irish economy continues to expand at a rapid pace.
The Department of Finance’s major update last week projected that unemployment would likely stay at about 4.5% this year, a level which it noted was widely considered as indicating full employment in the economy. Meanwhile, the payroll data showed an increase in employment across all age ranges, and pointed to a trend of more older people being in employment. The demographic with the largest increase, of just over 11% from a year earlier, was for people of retirement age at 65 and over. The next largest increase, of 6.3%, was for people aged 60 to 64.
In conclusion, the Irish economy has been growing steadily, with employment increasing across all sectors. Despite the layoffs in the technology industry, the number of people employed in the ICT sector has increased, which is a positive sign for the country’s economy. The government’s projection of full employment in the economy is encouraging, and the increase in employment across all age ranges is a positive trend. Overall, the future looks bright for Ireland’s economy.
