Section B

Unemployment Rate Stats

5% unemployment rate September 2026

Agri-food employment Stats

• Agri-food makes up 6.1%

• 171,600 people of total employment in 2025. 

Agri Food Contribution Stats

• 5.9% of GNI is Agriculture; €19.1 billion 

• €13 billions of crop& animal and €39 billions of food produced in 2025

Agri Food Exports Stats

• 8% of exports / 20.8 billion 

• Up to 90% of produce is exported, mostly dairy in 2025

Farm Structure Stats

130,00 farms / 4.6 million acres in 2025

Farm Holders Stats

• Female: 13.2% 

• Under 35: 4.3% 

• Over 65: 37.8% 

Regional Pattern of Agriculture Stats

The South-West has the largest share of agricultural entrepreneurial income in the 2024 map, 23.2%. 

Long term trends Stats

Food Vision 2030 

• 10-year food strategy 

• Includes economic viability 

• Benefits to society 

• Environmental performance 

Factors Of Production

The resources business combine to produce goods and services, with each having a reward to those supplying the factor. 

Land (FOP)

Land of any sort as well as waters. 

• Includes forests and mineral wealth

Reward is rent. 

Land (FOP) inelascticity

he total amount of agricultural land is treated as fixed in the short run.  

• Higher rent cannot immediately create extra hectares. 

• The supply curve is therefore vertical, or perfectly inelastic. 

In the longer run, drainage or reclamation can bring land into agricultural use 

• Housing and other development can remove it. 

Labour (FOP)

Labour means all human effort, physical and mental, involved in producing goods and services.

Benefit / reward is wage / salary.

Groups Of Labour:

Group	Meaning	Example
Employed	People working for pay or profit, for at least one hour.	A student with a paid part-time  job can be employed.
Unemployed	People without work who are actively  seeking it and available to work.	A person looking for a job after a redundancy.
Outside the labour  force	People neither employed nor meeting the  unemployment criteria.	A full-time student with no paid  job who is not seeking work

Employed 

People working for pay or profit, for at least one hour. 

Example: A student with a paid part-time job can be employed.

Unemployed

People without work who are actively seeking it and available to work.

Example: A person looking for a job after a redundancy.

Outside the labour force

People neither employed nor meeting the unemployment criteria. 

Example: A full-time student with no paid job who is not seeking work

Labour Force

All persons aged 15 years & over with a job or searching for one.

Excludes:

full-time students,

unpaid domestic help & childcare

voluntary work

Factors driving size of the labour force

• Total size of the national population

• Population’s age structure

• number of hours worked by each worker

• Extent/willingness to which people seek employment.

  • Labour participation rate.

Labour Force Calculation

Total employed + Total seeking a gainful occupation = Labour Force 

Unemployment Rate Calculation

(unemployed / labour force) × 100 = Unemployment Rate 

Participation rate definition

the percentage of the working-age population that is either employed or actively looking for work

Participation rate Calculation

(Labour force / population aged 15+) × 100 = Participation rate 

Unemployment

Unemployment is a person looking for a job after a redundancy. If they are not looking for a job, unemployment is not altered.

• a fall in unemployment does not always mean everyone found a job.

Consequently: 

• Full employment does not require 0% unemployment 

• People still take time to move between jobs. 

Types of unemployment:

Seasonal

Frictional

Structural

Cyclical  / demand deficient.

Institutional

Hidden / underemployment

Long-term

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Seasonal Unemployment

Meaning	Example
Driven by regular changes in demand for labour over the year.	Tourism jobs ending after the busy season.

Frictional Unemployment

Temporary unemployment / in-between jobs

Leaving one job and searching  for the next.

Structural Unemployment

Lasting changes reduce demand for products, industries or skills.

Fewer CD-manufacturing jobs  as streaming grows.

Cyclical / demand deficient Unemployment

A fall in GDP causes unemployment

Firms cut jobs during a  recession.

Institutional Unemployment

Labour-market rules, institutions or  incentives contribute to unemployment.

Benefits

Hidden / underemployment 

Employed labour  is not fully used; unproductive

A business has more workers  than its workload requires.

Long-term Unemployment

Unemployment lasting one year or longer

Someone still unemployed  after 14 months

Hysteresis

Hysteresis means unemployment persists after the economy recovers from the original fall in demand.

Example:

Long spells without work can weaken skills and confidence or make employers reluctant to hire. Retraining can help

Capital

Capital: Anything made by people which is used to produce goods and services.  

 

Its rewards are interest paid to the agent providing the loan purchasing for capital. 

Large differences in types of capital depending on the goods made.  

Goods	Services
Machinery	Offices
Transport Equipment	Knowledge

Types of Capital:

Human Capital: People's knowledge, education and skills.

Physical Capital

Benefits of capital investment

All tie into increased income, but via different mechanisms: 

Investment 

Investment is the process of adding capital to the economy. 

Investment terms:

Gross investment

Depreciation

Net investment

Gross investment 

Total new capital created during a period, such as one year. 

Depreciation 

Capital used up through wear and tear during that period. 

Net investment 

The additional capital left after allowing for depreciation.

Net investment = gross investment - depreciation

Net Investment Example

An economy creates €100 million of new capital, while €30 million of 

existing capital wears out. Net investment is €100 million - €30 million = €70 million.  

Effects of investment on capital stock

Opportunity Cost

Opportunity cost is the next-best alternative lost when making a choice. 

Consumer goods and capital goods

• Consumer goods provide satisfaction now 

• Capital goods help produce goods and services. 

Therefore, the opportunity cost of investment is current consumption forgone. 

Savings

Saving is income not used for current consumption

Savings and investment connection

They are interconnected; savings provide funds for investment. Both involve interest.

Factors affecting investment

Interest rate

Expected demand

Uncertainty

Government policy

Taxes and grants

Technological change

How does Interest rate affect investment

Higher borrowing costs discourages investment. 

How does Expected demand affect investment

A firm invests more readily if it expects customers to buy future output. 

How does Uncertainty affect investment

A long payback period may encourage a firm to delay investment 

How does government policy affect investment

Rules can require new investment; policy changes can alter opportunities. Such as milk quotas 

How does taxes and grants affect investment

These change the cost and expected return from an investment. 

How does technological change affect investment

New technology can make investment attractive or important for remaining competitive. 

Enterprise

Enterprise: taking the initiative to organise land, labour and capital in an attempt to earn profit. 

Entrepreneurs job

• Invest their money (with aim of making a profit) 

• Decides what goods/services to supply 

• And how they are to be supplied 

• Decides the price to charge (based on market conditions) 

• Accepts associated risks 

The possibility of profit encourages risk-taking and innovation. 

GEM Analysis Steps of Entrepreunership

Aspiring Entrepreneurs: would like to start a new business but not actively doing anything about it

Nascent Entrepreneurs: actively planning a venture.

New Business Owners: are entrepreneurs who at least part own and manage a new business that is between 4 and 42 months old and have not paid salaries for longer than this period.

Established Business: are those that have set up businesses that they have continued to own and manage, and which has paid wages or salaries for more than 42 months.

Types of entrepreneurship

Necessity-driven entrepreneurship comes from push factors, such as having no better work option.

Opportunity-driven entrepreneurship comes from pull factors; earn more money and be more independent.

Circular Flow of Income

It is a model that simplifies how an economy works.

It connects households, firms, markets and resources.

They all contribute to the flows of income

Households

people who consume goods and services and supply resources for production.

Resources

four factors of production: land, labour, capital and enterprise.

Firms

businesses that use resources to produce goods and services.

Markets

The medium to which goods and services are sold.

Types of flows of income

Real flow & money flow

Real Flow

Households supply productive resources to firms.

Firms supply goods and services to households.

Money Flow

Firms pay households for their resources.

Households spend their income, creating sales revenue for firms.

Injections to the domestic circular flow are

Injection	Symbol
Investment	I
Government Expenditure	G
Exports	X

Investment

Spending on productive assets such as machinery and buildings

Government Expenditure

Government spending on goods and services.

Exports

Overseas buyers spend money on goods and services produced here.

Leakages to the domestic circular flow

Leakage	Symbol
Savings	S
Taxation	T
Imports	M

Savings

Some income is saved instead of being spent .

Taxation

Government takes part of people’s income in tax.

Imports

Spending goes towards goods and services produced abroad.

Ways to measure GDP

Output method 

Income method 

Expenditure method

Output method

Value added through production

Income method 

The income generated by production

Expenditure method

Spending on final goods and services, with exports included and imports subtracted

Value added

Value Added = Value of Output – Value of Intermediate Inputs Used

GDP vs GNP

GDP:

Production in the economy.

GNP:

Income belonging to residents.

GNP Calculation

Income belonging to residents.

It helps explain why Ireland’s measured GDP can looks large without a corresponding increase in everyday domestic economic activity.

Limitations ofGDP

Unpaid work is excluded.

GDP does not show income distribution.

GDP does not judge what is produced.

GDP does not directly measure happiness or quality of life.

Hidden activity is difficult to measure

GNI*

It’s purpose is to remove specified multinational and globalisation effects that make Ireland’s national-income figures difficult to interpret.

GNI Calculation Method

Start with GDP

Calculate GNP (Subtract the net income flowing abroad )

Calculate GNI (Adjust for EU taxes and subsidies )

Calculate GNI*

• Subtract certain multinational-related effects:

• Depreciation on intellectual property

• Leased aircraft

• Income associated with redomiciled companies

Standardised Business Cycle

Recession 

Two consecutive quarters of falling GDP/GNP.

Characterised by high unemployment

Types of Recession / Recovery

V shaped - short lived sharp fall in output

U shaped - u shaped recession

V shaped recession

Sharp

Short lived

Caused by temporary shock

U shaped recession

A deeper fall in output

A longer fall in output

Recovery is gradual

Types of recovery

V L K

V shaped recovery

Output returns quickly to previous level

It is a short and temporary downturn

L shaped recovery

A sharp fall in output followed by prolonged period of weak or no growth.

Output remains lower than previous amounts

K shaped recovery

Split recovery, where some sectors remain weak or continue to decline.

Leads to a wider gap.

CPI

Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures the average change over time in the prices that consumers pay for a typical "basket" of everyday goods and services

Competitiveness

the ability to maintain or increase market share whilst making profit

Cost Competitiveness

a product, service is cheap compared to other similar products, without suffering subpar quality

Inflation

a steady and persistent increase in the general level of prices