Using standard International Labour Organisation (ILO) criteria, an estimated 2,839,300 persons were in employment in Q2 2026, up 0.8% (21,200) from 2,818,100 in Q2 2025.
The increase of 21,200 (0.8%) in employment is composed of an increase of 11,800 (+0.8%) for males and an increase of 9,400 (+0.7%) for females in the year to Q2 2026.
The employment rate for those aged 15-64 was 74.3% in Q2 2026 compared to 74.7% in Q2 2025 and 74.4% in Q2 2024. In Q2 2026, the employment rate for males aged 15-64 years was 78.0%, compared to 70.7% for females. See PxStat table QLF18.
See Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data Sources outputs for employment estimates based on administrative data for employees.
The economic sectors that saw the largest year-on-year increases in employment in Q2 2026 were:
The year-on-year increase in Transport and Storage (H) was primarily driven by an increase in division 51, Air transport (+6,900). See PxStat table QES26
The largest decrease in employment by economic sector in Q2 2026 was observed in:
The fall in employment in Professional, scientific and technical activities was driven by a decrease in division 71 Architectural and Engineering Activities; Technical Testing and Analysis (-11,800).
Over 64.8% of those in employment in Q2 2026 stated that they never work at home (1,839,400).
Of the 990,600 people who reported that they work from home at least some of the time in Q2 2026, 529,800 said that they usually (more than half the time) work from home, down from a peak of 846,700 in Q1 2021.
There were 460,800 people who sometimes (at least one hour in the reference period) worked from home in Q2 2026, up from 457,600 in Q2 2025. See PxStat table QES20.
The estimated total number of hours worked per week in Q2 2026 stood at 89.0 million hours, unchanged from Q2 2025, and up 1.7 million hours (+1.9%) on Q2 2024. See Figure 2.3.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the numbers in employment in Q2 2026 stood at 2,831,100 after a rise of 19,500 (+0.7%) from the previous quarter. This follows on from a seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter decrease in employment of 19,500 (-0.7%) in Q1 2026.
The seasonally adjusted number of males in employment was up by 3,600 (+0.2%) over the quarter to 1,502,300 in Q2 2026, while the corresponding number for females was up 3,900 (+0.3%) to 1,327,700 over the same period. See PxStat table QLF55.
See Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees using Administrative Data Sources outputs for seasonally adjusted employment estimates based on administrative data for employees.
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