Migrants more likely to be working than Irish-born – ESRI

New research from the ESRI has found that foreign-born residents are more likely to be employed, active in the labour market, and better educated compared to the Irish-born population.

The latest Monitoring Report on Integration has assessed the experience of migrants compared to the Irish-born population in the areas of employment, education, social inclusion and active citizenship.

It highlights that migrants also have lower incomes and are more likely to experience poverty and deprivation (14.5%) than Irish-born residents (11%).

The study found that migrants are also much more likely to be affected by high housing costs, with 37% of migrants spending more than 30% of their income on housing, compared to 9% of Irish-born residents.

The ESRI described the findings in relation to housing costs as “particularly stark”.

The report is published jointly by the ESRI, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and the Department of Justice.

It is the latest in a series of reports that investigates how migrants in Ireland are faring.

Read full report here

It found that migrant employment and rates of participation in the labour market have remained higher than those of Irish-born residents since 2022.

Employment rates have maintained their recovery since 2021, when they fell to the same level as the Irish-born rate during the Covid-19 pandemic.

When it comes to education – which is essential for assessing integration – the research, found that migrants had higher levels of educational attainment than Irish-born overall.

59% of working-age foreign-born residents had tertiary education between 2021 and 2023, compared to 42% of Irish-born residents.

Higher education rates varied by place of birth, with the lowest figure among those born in eastern EU countries (38%), and the highest among those born in Asia (79%).

Excluding agriculture, in 2024 Irish-born residents (10.3%) were still significantly more likely than foreign-born residents (8.4%) to be self-employed.

However, those born in the UK (15.3%) and those born in North America, Australia and Oceania (15.5%) had a higher self-employment rate than Irish-born residents.

According to the research, political participation of immigrants has increased, with the number of immigrants both running and winning a seat doubling in the 2024 local elections, albeit from a very low base.

The proportion of councillors with a migrant background remains low overall, at 2.2%.

“Recent positive developments in migrant integration include strong growth in the African employment rate and improvements in citizenship processing times,” said Evan Carron-Kee, co-author of the report.

“However, there are also some persistent challenges. Migrants are disproportionately impacted by the housing crisis and are much more likely to experience income poverty and deprivation.”

“These issues require urgent policy attention,” Mr Carron-Kee said.