Job data in the second quarter of 2025 – the three months ended on June 30th – shows growth in new jobs has slowed while the number of jobs being lost spiked.
Jobs churn – a term for the number of people switching jobs – typically for a better pay deal – has also slowed considerably.
On Friday morning high-profile accountant Neil Hughes, of Azets Ireland, warned that company level data from his firm’s client base of 4,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) pointed to significant levels of distress within the Irish economy, which he said risked triggering a jobs crisis. He pointed to risks to the retail and hospitality sectors in particular.
Earlier this week the Dundrum House golf and restaurant venue in Co Tipperary announced it would close with the loss of 48 jobs.
CSO numbers on Friday show the total number of new jobs created in the Irish economy in the second quarter of this year was 172,643, a decrease of 1,369 compared with the same period in 2024.
At the same time there were 88,935 “job destructions” a spike of 9.4pc more than the number recorded 12 months earlier.
In Q2 2025 there were 128,328 separations from primary employment – meaning people who left their job. The data shows almost 70pc of those people left the Revenue PAYE Modernisation (PMOD) system, indicating they retired or left the workforce for other reasons.
The data shows the vast bulk of Irish workers, 2.56 million people, stayed in their existing employment, the highest in the series – a potential sign of nervousness as people increasingly focus on stability in an economy characterised by major geo-political tensions and turmoil.
Commenting on the jobs release, CSO statistician in the labour market analysis section Conor Delves said the largest year-on-year increase in job creations in Q2 were seen in human health and social work activities, where creations rose by 2,853, and education where creations were up 1,420.
Those are both segments of the economy where state spending tends to be the main driver of hiring, and they are relatively less directly exposed to the private sector economy.
The highest rate of job churn was recorded in the administrative and support service activities sector (25.6pc), while the lowest rate (1.6pc) was recorded in the services sector.
The CSO data suggest larger firms employing 50 to 249 people saw the highest rate of job churn while business with between one and nine employees showed most stability.