A recent report from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has revealed that Irish workers rank among the most productive in the world. The report shows that the average value added per hour of work in 2021 was €102, with the manufacturing and information and communications technology sectors being the highest performers at €302 and €255 respectively. However, when removing the multinational-dominated sectors from the equation, domestic productivity was closer to the EU average of €38 per hour. Despite this, Ireland still reported greenhouse gas emissions per employee that were 1.5 times the EU average. The report states that foreign-owned companies are at least five times more productive than domestic firms, particularly in sectors such as software and computer programming, pharmaceuticals, and computer, electronic, and optical products. Despite the high concentration of multinational activity in these sectors, there are significant domestic activities associated with them, and many domestic companies are also significant employers in their respective sectors. It’s worth noting that domestic productivity decreased by 1% due to a return to work in sectors such as transportation and storage, construction, accommodation, and food that saw more hours worked than value added.
