[image alt="cso employment figures 2013" src="http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2015/01/cso-employment-figures-2013-630x261.jpg" width="630" height="261" title="" class="alignnone" /end]
20% OF THE foreign nationals aged 15 or over who were given PPSNs (Personal Public Service Numbers) in 2008 had ‘employment activity’ at any time during 2013.
That’s according to the CSO’s latest figures, with ‘employment activity’ classed as any PAYE employment or any engagement with the social welfare system.
The 20.4% equates to 25,904 people, out of 127,048 foreign nationals aged 15 years and over who had PPSNs.
Annual analysis
The data comes from an annual analysis of records of the Revenue Commissioners, the Department of Social Protection, and the CSO, based on foreign nationals who were allocated PPSNs from 2002-2013.
The analysis showed that 154,065 PPSN’s were allocated to foreign nationals in 2008. But in 2013 this number had fallen to 85,170.
- Of the 75,812 foreign nationals aged 15 years and over who were allocated new PPSNs in 2013, 28,902 (38.1%) had employment activity during the year.
- Employment activity was recorded in 2013 for 320,246 of all foreign nationals aged 15 years and over who received PPSNs between 2002–2013.
- The UK had the highest number of allocations (13,167) in 2013, and has continued to account for the highest number of allocations by country since 2009.
- Poland recorded the second highest number of allocations (9,235) in 2013.
The largest percentage of 2008 allocations to have social welfare activity in 2013 was the EU15 to EU25 states. This is followed by the United Kingdom.
PPSN allocations to foreign nationals across all age groups were 85,170 in 2013, an increase of 12,223 (16.8%) when compared with 2012. 2012 represented the first rise in the number of allocations after consistent falls since 2008.
[image alt="ppsn allocation graph 2" src="http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2015/01/ppsn-allocation-graph-2-630x309.jpg" width="630" height="309" title="" class="alignnone" /end]
Employment activity for PPSN allocations to foreign nationals in the year of arrival increased by 16.4% from 2012 to 2013.
But as the number of allocations increased (by 18.1%) in the above year, the employment activity rate fell 0.6 percentage points: from 38.7% in 2012 to 38.1% in 2013.
For the full data and report, see the CSO website. All images CSO
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