The number of people working in the State continued to rise in the final quarter of the year, new data from the Central Statistics Office showed, even as the labour force continued to expand.
But the figures showed the number of people usually working from home slid to its lowest point since the pandemic, when it reached a peak in the first quarter of 2021.
The Labour Force Survey for the final quarter of 2024 showed the number of people employed in the State grew by 2.6 per cent to 2.77 million people over the year, with 20.9 per cent of those in employment working part-time.
Unemployment fell slightly over the same period. In total there were 116,100 people classed as unemployed in the fourth quarter of the year, a rate of 4 per cent compared to 4.2 per cent a year earlier.
The estimated labour force, which includes those in the age group 15-89 who are either employed or unemployed, was 2.89 million, a rise of 2.4 per cent year-on-year, while labour market participation edged higher to 65.5 per cent, up from 65.4 per cent in the same period of 2023.
Among those in the 15-64 age group, the employment rate was 74.3 per cent in the final quarter of the year, up from 74 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2023.
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Male employment in the 15-64 age group was 78 per cent, with women at 70.6 per cent.
Youth employment was estimated at 46.1 per cent for the quarter.
The largest increases in employment were seen in the human health and social work activities, which rose by 4.7 per cent; construction, which increased by 9.1 per cent; and information and communication, which increased by 8.3 per cent.
Employment fell in the wholesale and retail trade, within the motor repair sector, and in the administrative activities sector.
The estimated total number of hours worked per week in the fourth quarter rose by 3.1 million hours, a 3.8 per cent rise of the fourth quarter of 2023.
