Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 July 2021
1167. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Social Protection the estimated annual cost of a one-off social welfare bonus of €1,000 for all essential workers who worked through the Covid-19 pandemic including but not limited to health, food retail, food production workers and transport workers. [41237/21]
View answerTo accurately estimate the cost of providing a once off payment of €1,000 to essential workers, consideration would have to be given to which employees constitute essential workers and how they may be identified and verified as such for the purposes of any such payment.
The CSO's quarterly Labour Force Survey (LFS) categorises all persons aged over 15 in employment in the State, according to the sector of the economy they work in. According to the Q1 2021 LFS, published in June, the numbers employed in each high level NACE sector are provided below.
|
NACE Sector |
Numbers Employed (000s) |
|
Agriculture, forestry and fishing |
104 |
|
Industry |
298 |
|
Construction |
119 |
|
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles |
296.9 |
|
Transportation and storage |
88.8 |
|
Accommodation and food service activities |
95.6 |
|
Information and communication |
139.8 |
|
Financial, insurance and real estate activities |
120.5 |
|
Professional, scientific and technical activities |
143.6 |
|
Administrative and support service activities |
78.4 |
|
Public administration and defence; compulsory social security |
123.9 |
|
Education |
201.8 |
|
Human health and social work activities |
290.5 |
|
Other NACE activities |
81.6 |
|
Not stated |
48.3 |
|
Total |
2,230.6 |
The NACE sectors above, which align most closely with the Deputy's description of essential workers in the health, food retail, food production and transport sectors would be: human health and social work activities; wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles; accommodation and food service activities; and transportation and storage.
The cost of providing a one-off bonus of €1,000 to all 771,800 workers in these sectors would be €771.8 million.
