24th April 2025 |
Reports, Research and Analysis, Statistics
With the Irish labour market effectively at full employment conditions, this paper addresses recent trends in migration flows using a wide variety of data sources and visualisation tools.
Over the past 5-years, there has been a very strong and positive contribution to labour supply from migration. In 2024, Ireland had inward migration of 149,200 persons with outward flows of 69,900 persons resulting in net inward migration of 79,300. This uptick in immigration has also become the main driver of labour force growth. Breaking the data down further, we can see a strong contribution from Ukrainian inflows but also flows from the rest of the world, particularly India.
While inward migration has been robust, there has also been a pick-up in outward flows from Ireland particularly amongst Irish nationals, with higher tendencies among females and younger age cohorts. This has occurred during a time of strong economic growth which is unusual. Whether this is a cyclical or cultural phenomenon or something more substantive merits further attention.
The paper draws on a range of data sources including the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Eurostat, and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment’s data on employment permits granted by age, country, region and sector. The paper also draws on embassy level data using case studies from Australia and Canada to highlight where younger Irish persons are migrating to and from. Notably, there has been a 14% increase in Australian Temporary Skills Shortage visas granted to Irish citizens in 2023 compared to 2019.
Overall, the research highlights the scale and importance of migration flows to and from Ireland as well as the inherent dynamism of the Irish labour market. Both in an absolute sense and relative to European peers, migration flows have been substantial. It is safe to assume that the post-pandemic recovery in the economy would have stalled were it not for inward migration. The pick-up in emigration, particularly amongst Irish nationals in the context of strong employment growth is noteworthy. The paper concludes with some indicative scenarios on migration flows out to 2030 bearing in mind the new Programme for Government commitment to generate 300,000 jobs over this period.
Topics:
Employment Permits, Workplace and Skills