18,873 working in Longford but unemployment rate of 19.6% is highest in state

However, there were 3,701 unemployed persons in Longford, based on the census Principal Economic Status basis (which differs for methodological reasons from the official QNHS figures).

On this basis, the overall unemployment rate for Longford was 19.6%, the highest in the state.

This compares to an unemployment rate of 12.9% (297,396 persons) for the State overall. 

The labour force participation rate in the county was 60.2%, compared to 61.4% for the State overall. The male participation rate was 67.6% while the female participation rate was 52.8%.

The number of retired persons in county Longford stood at 4,782 in April 2016, an increase of 19.0%. Nationally, the number of retired persons increased by 19.2% to 545,407.

The number of students aged 15 years and over stood at 3,062, an increase of 7.0%. This was greater than the rate of increase at national level (4.5%).

Some 14.5% of Longford’s population indicated that they had a disability, compared to 13.5% who did so nationally.

4.3% of Longford residents provided regular unpaid personal help for a friend or family member. At the national level, 4.1% of the population stated that they provided such care.

85.3% of Longford residents stated that their health was either good / very good, compared to the national figure of 87.0%.