Statistician's Comment

Commenting on the results, Dr. Tracy Clegg, Statistician in the Census Division, said: “Profile 7 covers the topics of Employment, Unemployment and Commuting providing statistics, analysis and data tables.  The report looks at people at work or unemployed, occupations and industrial sectors as well as the commuting patterns of workers, students and children in school or childcare. New for Census 2022 are the additional topics of commuting for childcare and time leaving workplace, school, college or childcare giving more rounded information on travelling patterns as well as information on working from home.”

Some highlights for Kildare

People at Work/Unemployed

Almost 194,400 people living in the county in April 2022 were aged 15 and over and of these more than 114,800 people were at work. This was an increase of 20% (from the more than 95,900 people recorded as working in Census 2016). Nationally there were 2.3 million people at work in April 2022, which was up by 16%.

Almost 9,000 people were unemployed in the county in April 2022. This was considerably lower than the 2016 figure of almost 13,000 people (a decrease of 27%). The unemployment rate was 7% compared with 11% in 2016. Nationally there were almost 211,000 people unemployed compared with over 297,000 in Census 2016. The unemployment rate was 8% in 2022 compared with 13% in 2016. 

There were more almost 25,400 retired people in Kildare, up 34% since Census 2016. There was a 21% increase in the number of people who were unable to work due to permanent sickness or disability to almost 7,600 people.  The number of people looking after their home/family fell by 7% to almost 13,400.

The labour force participation rate was 64% in Kildare compared with 61% nationally. Among females the rate was 58% while for males it was 70%. Nationally the trend was similar at 56% for female labour force participation and 67% for males.

Most people in work in Kildare were in full-time employment, with over 90,100 people in this category, compared with over 15,000 who were working part-time.

Where people worked

The Wholesale and Retail Trade sector accounted for the largest number of workers in the county at almost 15,500. Human Health and Social Work Activities was the next largest, with over 12,000 workers followed by Manufacturing with more than 11,800 workers.

More than 40% of workers in both Celbridge and Leixlip were commuting to work in Dublin City and suburbs, putting both into the ten towns with the most commuters to the City and suburbs. 

Working From Home

A new question was included in Census 2022 asking people whether they ever worked from home and if so, for how many days per week.  There were more than 114,800 people at work in Kildare in April 2022. Of these, over 64,600 never worked from home, while almost 40,800 people worked from home at least some of the time. Of those working from home, almost 10,700 people did so for five days per week, with 7,401 doing so for two days and 7,051 for three days each week. 

Travelling to Work

There were 100,856 people travelling to work in the county in April 2022. The majority of these drove to work, with 65,587 people driving to work by car in 2022. There were 4,656 people travelling by bus, and 5,011 by train. Looking at active travel, 6,042 people walked to work, up from 5,632 in 2016, while 1,436 people cycled, an increase of 183 people since 2016. 

Commuters in the county were travelling for longer in April 2022, with an average journey time of 34 minutes compared with 33.8 minutes in 2016. This was one of the highest average journey times in the country. The average journey time nationally increased from 28.2 minutes to 29.1 minutes between 2016 and 2022. There were 16,832 Kildare commuters who had a journey time of less than 15 minutes, while 24,917 people had a journey time of 15 to 30 minutes. A further 17,395 people had a journey time of 60 minutes and over. This was 17% of all commuters in the county and was one of the highest rates nationally.   

Travelling to School or College or Childcare

In Kildare, nearly 8,500 children aged under 5 travelled to childcare or school. Most of these (almost 6,300) travelled by car, while 1,657 walked and 89 cycled.

Most of the 29,914 primary school aged children (5 to 12 years old) travelling to school in the county in April 2022 also travelled by car, with 15,705 doing so. Walking was the second most common means of travel at 8,578 children. A further 2,508 children used a bus while 1,024 children cycled.

Of the 20,770 secondary students (those aged 13-18 years) travelling to school, 8,219 were driven to school in a car, while 344 drove themselves to school. There were 4,699 students using a bus, and 386 using the train. A further 5,026 students in the county walked to school while 1,169 cycled. Kill had the highest rate nationally of secondary school students using public transport at 82% (among towns with a population of at least 1,500 people).

For the 9,250 third-level students commuting, driving was the most popular means of travel, at 2,334 people. There were 2,263 students who used a bus, while 1,619 travelled by train, DART or Luas. Another 1,424 students walked while 733 were a passenger in a car.