The seasonally adjusted employee index was up by 2.6 per cent in the 12 months to August, new data from the Central Statistics Office show.
The agency’s monthly estimates of payroll employees, which utilises real-time Revenue data to detect trends in the labour market, also shows the seasonally adjusted employee index increased by 0.2 per cent in the month to August.
March 2021 was the last month to show an annual decrease (11.1 per cent) in the employee index.
Nine sectors saw a monthly increase in the numbers employed in August, while five sectors decreased, and one remained unchanged.
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The sectors with the largest monthly increase in August were human health and social work activities, as well as transportation and storage, both of which increased by 0.5 per cent.
The largest monthly decreases in August were in services, down 2.8 per cent, followed by professional, scientific and technical activities, which was down 0.9 per cent. It should be noted that services is the smallest sector, with 4,300 employees in August.
In the 12 months to August, the economic sectors that observed the largest rise in the number of employees was in public administration and defence, up 6.7 per cent, and human health and social work activities, which was up 6 per cent.
All age groups saw annual increases in the employee index with the exception of the 15-19 years age category, which was down 3 per cent.
The age groups with the largest annual rise in employees was 65 years and over, up 10.4 per cent, followed by those aged 60-64 years, up 5.9 per cent.
Over the month, there was a decrease of 0.6 per cent was seen in the 15-19 years category, while there was 0.3 per cent drop in those aged 65 years and over.
The monthly employee index for men increased by 0.1 per cent, while the employee index for women increased by 0.2 per cent over the same period.
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