The number of people living and working in the Western Region has increased by 13.3% between 2016 and 2022, a new report from the Western Development Commission shows.
The report, which examined travel to work patterns and labour catchments, is based on Census 2022 data examining where people live and work and forms the basis of labour catchments information.
The town labour catchment is that area from which a town draws most of its workforce.
The Western Development Commission said all the labour catchments reviewed have significantly more people at work than the census population at work within the town. This shows that all these towns have access to a much greater labour supply than the town population.
All of the larger catchments recorded increases in the number of workers there from 2016 to 2022, with the Galway city and Roscommon town labour catchments having the greatest increases at 25.8% and 26.7% respectively.
The Galway city labour catchment is by far the largest. Between 2016 and 2022 it grew by 25.8%, or over 18,000 workers to 88,253. This accounted for 52% of the overall growth in the number of resident workers across all labour catchments in the Western Region.
The Sligo town labour catchment is the second largest in 2022, with over 24,300 resident workers an increase of 11.7% since 2016.
Meanwhile, the Letterkenny town labour catchment was the third largest in 2022 with 23,500 resident workers. It grew by 19% since 2016 and moved from fourth in 2016 to third in 2022.
Overall, the report identifies 43 labour catchments in the Western Region, which covers counties Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Mayo, Galway and Clare. It provides a detailed labour market profile for the largest seven towns in the seven counties - Galway, Sligo, Ennis, Letterkenny, Castlebar, Carrick-on-Shannon and Roscommon Town.
Today's report also highlights the importance of rural areas as employment locations.
A large proportion of the labour catchment residents are in fact employed in rural areas - centres with less than 1,000 people, destinations outside any defined CSO settlement.
Castlebar is the fifth largest labour catchment in the Western Region with nearly 17,000 resident workers in 2022. It retained this fifth position throughout the period 2006-2022. It recorded one of the largest growth rates of all catchments, growing by 22% since 2016.
Roscommon town labour catchment is the eighth largest catchment in the Western Region, up from its ranking of 9th place in 2016. It had the highest growth rate of the principal catchments and grew by 1,933 resident workers or 26.7% between 2016 and 2022.
The largest catchment in Co Leitrim, the Carrick-on-Shannon labour catchment was the tenth largest across the Western Region.
The chief executive of the WDC, Allan Mulrooney, said the report is very valuable information as it provides robust analysis of travel to work patterns in centres across the Western Region.
"It provides detailed data which will inform decisions on commuting and employment patterns and enterprise location," Mr Mulrooney said.
"Comparing these data with the original WDC analysis in the intercensal periods, 2016 and 2006, provides insights into trends. It will be of particular value to policy-makers in the context of the revision of the National Planning Framework and the Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies and County Development," he added.
