The number of people working in the agri-sector in Ireland fell by 3.6%, or 3,900 year-on-year, according to the latest data.

Figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) today (Thursday, August 20), showed that in Q2 2026, 105,800 people were working in the agriculture, forestry, and fishing sectors.

For the same period last year, that number was 109,700.

Actual hours worked in these sectors declined year-on-year too.

For Q2 2026, 4.6 million hours were worked in these sectors, down from 4.9 million for Q2 2025.

Broken down by gender, the agri-industry is still male dominated.

In Q2 2026, 88,000 males worked in the industry while there were 17,800 female workers.

In related industries, those working in the wholesale and retail trades also dropped slightly year-on-year; from 299,100 in Q2 2025 to 289,100 in Q2 2026, a fall of 3.3%.

However, another related industry, transportation and storage, saw an uptick of 7.9%, from 124,200 workers in Q2 2025 to 134,000 in the same period this year.

Employment

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is the official measure of employment and unemployment in Ireland.

Thousands of households from around the country take part in this survey every three months, providing detailed information on employment, unemployment, labour force participation and other aspects of the labour market.

Commenting on today’s release, Colin Hanley, statistician in the CSO’s labour market and earnings division, said: “The estimated number of people in employment in Q2 2026 stood at 2,839,300, an increase of 21,200 or 0.8% when compared with Q2 2025.”

An estimated 589,600 or 20.8% of those in employment worked part-time, and 153,800 or 26.1% of those in part-time employment were classified as underemployed (i.e. they would like to work more hours for more pay).

In the 12 months to Q2 2026 the age group with the highest employment rate was the 45-54-year-old group (85.8%), which was up 0.7 percentage points from the 85.1% recorded in Q2 2025.

The lowest employment rate by age was observed in the 15-19-year-old group at 25.6%.