Ireland in 2023: Record employment rate reached as prices fell, CSO reports

Inflation fell dramatically last year while employment levels reached historically high levels but dark clouds in the shape of gender-based violence, income disparities and housing issues loomed large, according to a 2023 snapshot published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Wednesday morning.

Its Year In Numbers release gives an overview of the information recorded by the CSO and covers key economic societal data which, it says, “helps tell the story of 2023″.

It recorded a rate of inflation of 3.9 per cent in November, the lowest rate recorded for more than two years and down from the high of 8.5 per cent in February and a peak of 9.2 per cent which it recorded in October 2022.

Over the course of 2023, energy prices began to fall and the impact of mortgage interest rate hikes became one of the main contributors to inflation with the increase in mortgage interest rates peaking in August 2023 when they were up 51.3 per cent on the same month in 2022.

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Other key contributors to inflation in 2023 were the price of food, the cost of eating out in restaurants, and staying in hotels.

The CSO also detailed the Census 2022 results which showed that Ireland’s population exceeded the five million threshold for the first time in 171 years and climbed 8 per cent since the last Census in 2016.

The rate of employment hit 74.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2023, the highest point since the current series began 25 years ago.

There was still significant economic turbulence with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimated to have fallen by 1.9 per cent in the third quarter of last year, the fourth consecutive quarter of contraction.

Switching to societal issues, the CSO also noted that the proportion of adults who experienced sexual violence in their lifetime was 40 per cent with 52 per cent of women saying they had experienced sexual violence, compared with 28 per cent of men.

Almost 75 per cent of the top 1 per cent of earners were men while in the top 10 per cent of earners, just over 70 per cent were men.

The median or mid-point price of a home steadily increased over the course of the year from €305,000 in January to €323,000 in October 2023, the latest month for which data is available.

About 80 per cent of people used the internet in 2023 for shopping, banking, or booking/ordering services online, although using email was the most popular activity at 93 per cent.

More than 700,000 people indicated on their Census form that they undertook voluntary work and of those, nearly 300,000 volunteered in a sporting organisation.

Jack was the most popular name given to boys born in 2022 for the sixth year in a row, while Emily was the most popular name for baby girls.

Murphy was the most common surname for babies born in 2022.

When it came to transport, 45 per cent of all new private cars licensed were electric, plug-in hybrid, or hybrid, up to October 2023.

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