According to a recent Central Statistics Office analysis, the industry with the biggest decline in employment during the Covid-19 epidemic was lodging and food services, reports RTE.
The study examines the effects on employment, incomes, and air travel five years after the initial COVID lockdowns.
According to the survey, between the fourth quarter of 2019 and the second quarter of 2020, employment in the food and lodging industry decreased by 38%, or 68,700 workers, reports RTE.
The administrative and support services industry saw the second-largest decline in employment.
“Interestingly, two economic sectors, Financial, Insurance & Real Estate Activities and Information & Communication, saw no decline in the numbers of people in employment during the pandemic,” said Colin Hanley, CSO Statistician in the Labour Market & Earnings Division, reports RTE.
There were 2.4 million employed persons overall in the fourth quarter of 2019, but by the second quarter of 2020, that number had dropped to 2.2 million.
Employment figures had rebounded and surpassed pre-pandemic levels a year later.
Nearly 1.5 million individuals got Covid income supplements throughout the epidemic, reports RTE.
In April 2020, more than 1 million individuals got income support, the most in any given month.
Average hourly wages have increased by 24.7% throughout the five years leading up to the fourth quarter of 2024, and this growth has been observed across all economic sectors, reports RTE.
According to today’s data, the first notable decline in air traveler numbers was in March 2020, when 58% fewer people used Ireland’s five major airports: Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Knock, and Kerry.
Just over 25,000 travellers travelled via the five major airports in April 2020, a 99.2% decrease from the 3.3 million travellers who did so in April 2019, reports RTE.
A single month didn’t reach 90% of its pre-pandemic passenger handling number until August 2022, and it wasn’t until January 2023 that a single month exceeded its pre-pandemic levels.
More than 39.2 million travellers used the five major airports in 2023, according to the most current aviation data. This was the most passengers since the series started in 2013, reports RTE.
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