The accommodation and food service sector suffered the largest monthly decline in employment in June, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The agency’s monthly estimates of payroll employees, which utilises real-time Revenue data to detect trends in the labour market, shows there was an overall drop of 0.1 per cent in the number of people employed in the month to June.
However, in annual terms, the seasonally adjusted employee index was up by 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
The largest monthly decrease in June was in the accommodation and food services sector, which declined by 1 per cent amid mounting concern over restaurant closures across the State.
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This week chef Dylan McGrath shut two of his Dublin restaurants without notice.
Adrian Cummins, chief executive of the Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) said that from September 2023 to July 2024, his organisation counted 577 closures or, on average, two per day.
Elsewhere, there was a 0.9 per cent reduction in those employed in the education sector over the month.
The sector with the largest monthly increase was administrative and support service activities (1.1 per cent), followed by professional, scientific and technical activities (0.9 per cent).
In the 12 months to June, the economic sector that observed the largest rise in the number of employees was human health and social work activities (5.8 per cent).
With the exception of the 15 to 19 years age category, which declined by 2.5 per cent, all age groups saw annual increases in the employee index.
The age group with the largest annual rise in employees was 65 years and over (12.5 per cent), followed by those aged 60 to 64 years (5.9 per cent).
The largest decreases in the monthly index to June were seen in the 20 to 24 years (2.1 per cent) and 15 to19 years (1.1 per cent) age groups.
On an annual basis, the female index increased by 2.5 per cent while the male index rose by 1.9 per cent. On a monthly basis both the female and male indices were down 0.1 per cent.
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