New data from the Central Statistics Office shows that the estimated number of women in employment increased by 82.1% to reach 1,328,900 in the fourth quarter of 2025, compared with 729,900 recorded in the same period in 2000, reports RTE.
The Human Health and Social Work sector recorded the largest number of female workers, followed by the Education sector, with women making up roughly three-quarters of employees in both areas in 2025, reports RTE.
Today’s CSO figures also reveal that the number of women who described their primary economic status as “engaged in home duties” fell by 61.8%, declining from 520,500 in 2010 to 198,800 in 2025.
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Women represented 41.7% of those in full-time employment in the final quarter of 2025 and accounted for 67.1% of people working part-time, reports RTE.
The CSO also said that 63.6% of women in employment held a third-level qualification, compared with 52.8% of men in the fourth quarter of 2025.
At the same time, median weekly earnings for women increased by 39.2% between 2014 (€469.85) and 2024 (€654.07), reports RTE.
This compares with a 36.5% rise in median weekly earnings for men over the same timeframe, growing from €587.52 in 2014 to €802.14 in 2024.
The CSO said the share of women among the top 1% of earners climbed from 22.6% in 2019 to 27.6% in 2024, while the proportion of women within the top 10% of earners increased from 27.9% to 30.6% during the same period, reports RTE.
Today’s figures also indicate that Indian women recorded the highest median weekly earnings in 2024 at €919.27, followed by Irish women at €677.02 and UK nationals at €646.01.
The CSO also noted that Indian women were the only nationality group whose median weekly earnings were higher than those of men from the same group (€821.96), a pattern that has been seen since 2020, reports RTE.
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