Labour Force Survey Quarter 3 2023
On November 23rd, 2023 the Central Statistics Office (CSO) published the Labour Force Survey (LFS) for the third quarter of 2023, which covers the months of July to September.
In Q3 2023, 128,600 people were unemployed, an increase of 9,500 people over the year. The unemployment rate was 4.6%, an increase of 0.1 ppt over the year. The unemployment rate for women was 4.6%, an annual decrease of 0.2 percentage point; while the unemployment rate for men was 4.7%, an annual increase of 0.5 ppt. Women accounted for 47% of the unemployed in Q3 2023, a decrease of 3.4 percentage points on the same quarter in 2022.
The unemployment rate for young people aged 15-24 years was 12.2%, an increase of 0.2 percentage points over the year. While the unemployment rate for people aged 25-74 years old was 3.4%, an increase of 0.1 percentage point. Though the overall unemployment rate for men (4.7%) was higher than for women (4.6%) in Quarter 3 2023, in five of the age groups the female rate was higher: 15-19; 15-24; 35-44; 55-59; 65 years and over.
The number of people deemed long-term unemployed increased by 2.6% over the year to 31,000 people, while the long-term unemployment rate remained the same at 1.1%. The CSO notes, excluding people whose duration was not stated, that “Over a quarter (25.4%) of unemployed persons were in long-term unemployment in Q3 2023 which is slightly down from 27.2% a year earlier”.
The Principal Economic Status (PES) captures data on how people described themselves, for example whether they are at work or unemployed or a student or on home duties. In Q3 2023, 170,000 people described themselves as unemployed, an increase of 11,800 over the year.
The Potential Additional Labour Force (PALF) captures people who may not fit into the official definition of unemployment, whereby people have to be actively seeking work for the previous four weeks and available to take up work in the coming two weeks of the survey. In Q3 2023, PALF stood at 91,100, an increase of 18,000 people on the same quarter in 2022.
2,655,900 people were employed in this quarter, an increase of 101,600 on Q3 2022. A 3.1% increase in full-time employment accounted for 62% of the increase in employment overall. The employment rate was 74.1%, an increase of 0.9 percentage point over the year. Women accounted for 41% of people in full-time employment in Quarter 3 2023, 0.4 percentage points higher than Q3 in 2022.
Part-time employment increased by 7.2% to 573,900. Women accounted for 69% of people in part-time employment. Part-time underemployment increased by 19.7% to 130,800 people. In Q3 2023 women accounted for 63% of people who described themselves as underemployed, an increase of 0.5 percentage points over the year.
Over the year the Labour Force rose by 4.15% to 2,784,400. The labour force consists of people who are in employment plus people who are unemployed. Two factors influence changes in the Labour Force: the demographic effect (+59,500) and the participatory effect (+51,500).
The participation rate in Q3 2023 was 65.8%, an increase of 1 percentage points on the Q3 2022. The participation rate measures the share of the total population aged 15 years and over who are in the labour force. Over the year the participation rate increased for men from 70.8% to 71.1%, and for women from 58.9% to 60.8%.