Ireland’s labour productivity ‘double EU average’, CSO finds

Ireland saw its labour productivity double against the EU average in 2023 thanks to best-performing sectors such as manufacturing and information and communication, according to Central Statistics Office (CSO) data. However, it also saw the largest fall in productivity when excluding foreign-dominated sectors. “Ireland’s labour productivity was over double the EU average of €41.

9 per hour, but this gap narrows significantly when excluding foreign-dominated sectors from the results,” the CSO said. Labour productivity looks at the efficiency of a labour force – it is measured based on the “gross value added” for each hour worked. For Ireland, it stood at €105.



8 per hour. “Driven by the performance of multinationals, Ireland had the highest labour productivity, while the domestic sector was considerably closer to the EU average,” it said. “The high-performing sectors were manufacturing (€282.

9 per hour) and information and communications (€293.5 per hour), both of which saw labour productivity levels far higher than their respective EU averages.” !function(){"use strict";window.

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data["datawrapper-height"][a]+"px")}}))}(); CSO statistician Doireann O’Brien said domestic labour had seen some growth during the year. “There was growth in domestic labour, largely driven by the financial, insurance and real estate sectors,” she said. “In contrast, labour productivity for the foreign sector fell by 15.

9pc, with this driven primarily by a decrease in gross value added, as well as a marginal drop in hours worked in the sector. “This fall in the foreign sector was driven by foreign manufacturing, which saw labour productivity decline by 29pc in 2023.” Stock image.

Photo: Getty Today's News in 90 Seconds - April 2nd According to the report, when one sector reports higher labour productivity than another, it means it is using its labour force more efficiently. Sectors in the Irish economy with the highest labour productivity were foreign-owned manufacturing (€439.9 value per hour), information and communication (€293.

5), and electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (€224.8), according to the data. For the total economy, productivity declined by 7.

5pc in 2023. Across the EU, it fell by an average of 0.2pc.

“The decline in the foreign sector was driven by a fall in gross value added and a rise in hours worked by people. For the domestic sector, productivity increased by 3.8pc as gross value added grew faster than hours worked,” it said.

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