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Ireland has seen a dramatic 90% increase in female employment over the past two decades, with over 1.3 million women now in the workforce. This growth is concentrated in sectors like human health, social work, and education. The rise of flexible and remote working arrangements during the pandemic has been a key driver of this increased participation, despite persistent gender gaps in pay and work hours.
gap, 8 to 10 per cent depending on who you ask, but female participation in the labour force has jumped. There were more than 1.3 million women in employment in the second quarter of 2026, up almost 90 per cent since the first quarter of 2000.
described this shift as the “standout” change of recent times, noting that women accounted for a large majority of workers in sectors such as human health, social work and education.
“There is still a gender gap in terms of employment rates and pay as women remain more concentrated in part-time work, but the scale and composition of female employment have changed substantially,” it said. The trend of greater female participation appeared to accelerate during the pandemic with flexible working arrangements said to suit more women, particularly those with additional caring roles.
Average weekly earnings rose by just under 24 per cent between the first quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2026, from €861 to €1,065 with those working in financial and real estate enjoyed the highest increase, up almost 30 per cent to €1,748. At the same time, across the same five-year period, the consumer price index increased by 24 per cent, emphasising the ongoing price pressures in the economy.
Close to one million people reported working from home at least sometimes in the second quarter of 2026, “although that number has fallen over the year, and over 1.8 million people in employment reported that they never work from home,” the agency said. The CSO also noted that non-Irish nationals accounted for 61.4 per cent of the increase in employee numbers between 2019 and 2024, with particularly high representation in administrative and support services, accommodation and food services, and information and communication.
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