Updated March 28

Public administration, health, education and social work activities increased by 2,774 to 55,924 (27.5% of total) – up from 53,150, according to the National Statistics Office.

This means that 69 per cent of the population aged 15 and over were employed as at the end of 2017.

This represents an increase of 5.1 per cent in employment when compared to the corresponding quarter of 2016.

There were 7,891 unemployed persons (2.1 per cent) and 159,967 inactive persons (43.1 per cent).

The activity rate for the October to December period was estimated at 72 per cent with the highest rate recorded among persons aged 25-54 (83.6 per cent).

Employed population

The male employment rate for this age bracket was 81.3 per cent while that for females stood at 56.7 per cent.

Self-employed persons accounted for 13.6 per cent of all persons with
a main job. The majority of employed persons worked on a full-time basis totalling 176,478 and 27,173 had a part-time job as their primary employment.

Results show that, on average, full-timers work 41.2 hours while part-timers work 22.2 hours per week.

The average annual basic salary of employees for the final quarter of 2017 was estimated at €17,911.

The highest basic salary was recorded in the Financial and Insurance Service sector (€26,741). Average annual salaries varied from €30,754 among managers to €12,102 among persons employed in elementary occupations.

Unemployed and inactive population

The unemployment rate for the fourth quarter of 2017, stood at 3.7 per cent. The largest share of unemployed persons was recorded among persons aged 25 and over. Among the unemployed, 62.4 per cent stated that they had been seeking work for less than 12 months. The main reason for inactivity relates to persons reaching retirement age or taking up early retirement (41.3 per cent).

Correction March 28: A previous version of this article stated that more than a quarter of new jobs in 2017 were in the public sector, when increases in the 'public administration, defence, education, health and social work' category include both public and private entities.