The number of jobs in the Irish economy increased by 355,332 to about 2.8 million between 2019 and 2024, with migrant workers accounting for 218,261, or 61.4 per cent, of the growth, according to research from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
By the end of 2024, more than a quarter of the total workforce, 27.5 per cent, came from outside Ireland. The concentration of overseas labour was significantly higher in sectors such as administration and support (45.6 per cent), accommodation and food services (45.1 per cent) and information and communication technology (41.4 per cent).
The median age of the migrant workers was 37 compared with 41 for those from Ireland. Overall, the workforce, like the wider population, is getting older, with 20 per cent of those in employment at the end of 2024 aged over 55, twice the corresponding figure for 2000.
Median earnings across the economy increased from €598.36 to €730.29 a week over the five-year period. The figure for information and communication technology (ICT) was almost twice that, at €1,440.36, whereas the lowest weekly media earnings were in accommodation and food services, where the figure was €391.62. .
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The multinational sector is often said by small business representatives here to skew the average earnings figures, and the research suggests that while 9 per cent of workers in the enterprise economy are employed by US-owned firms, they account for 17 per cent of earnings.
The proportion of those employed in ICT here is almost double the EU average, at 6.7 per cent compared with 3.5 per cent across the 27 member states.
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Health and social services is the Irish economy’s largest sector, with almost 400,000 people employed in it by the fourth quarter of 2024.
The proportion of women in the overall workforce has increased significantly in recent years and the overall numbers are almost even by gender across the economy. Just 31 per cent of the top 10 per cent of earners in the workforce are female, however, and 32 per cent of senior executives.
Ireland continues to have the highest rate of third-level qualification across 25- to 74-year-olds, with 55 per cent having at least degree-level education in 2025 compared with an EU average of 34 per cent.
There has been progress with regard to lifelong learning, with 52 per cent of 25- to 69-year-olds in 2022 found to have taken some form of training or further education course – the sixth-highest figure across the EU, but well short of Sweden’s 70 per cent.
The CSO estimates the Irish workforce will continue to grow and predicts the increase from 2022 to 2037 will be between 337,000 and 610,000.
