figure 1: employment permits 2021-2022, data from the department of enterprise. trade, and employment, graph created by emn ireland
On 4 January 2023, The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment published the employment permit statistics for 2022. In total, there were 39,955 permits issued, 3,478 refused, and 1,705 withdrawn. There was an increase of over double the number of permits issued with proportionate increases in permits refused and withdrawn as compared to 2021.
Below are further highlights from the report and comparisons to the previous year.
By nationality
In 2021 and 2022, India, Brazil, Pakistan, and the Philippines remain in the top five nationalities being issued employment permits. In 2021, the USA came in as the 5th with 693 employment permits, or 4.3%, while in 2022 China was 5th with 1,497 or 3.7%.
figure 2: employment permits by nationality 2021-2022, data from the department of enterprise. trade, and employment, graph created by emn ireland
By sector
While the number of permits across all sectors increased in 2022 as compared to 2021, there was a change in the proportion of employment permits issued by sector. Although the share of permits issued for employment in the sector of Information and Communication Activity increased by 1 percentage point and had the greatest overall number of permits by just over 1,000, the proportion of health and social work permits increased by over 10 percentage points.
figure 3: employment permits by sector 2021-2022, data from the department of enterprise. trade, and employment, graph created by emn ireland
By county
Dublin continues to top the list of employment permits by county. In both 2021 and 2022, over half of all employment permits issued were in Dublin. Cork and Galway remain relatively steady in terms of percentage, while Kildare rose about 2 percentage points and Limerick dropped nearly 2.
figure 4: employment permits by county 2021-2022, data from the department of enterprise. trade, and employment, graph created by emn ireland
For more information, see below
- Full data sets, Department of Enterprise, Trade and Development (2022) (2021)
- Employment permit statistics, EMN Ireland
- Policy and practice targeting the labour market integration of non-EU nationals in Ireland, EMN Ireland/ESRI
