research project economics leaving cert

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Leaving Certificate Resources

Leaving certificate 2025: economics research project, research topic 1.

Candidates are required to pursue an individual line of inquiry discussing and evaluating the impact of wage changes in one SME or SME sector in the Irish economy under the following two headings:

• Market driven wage changes in this sector OR government driven wage changes in this sector
• Wage inequalities in this sector

Research Topic 2

Candidates are required to pursue an individual line of inquiry discussing and evaluating the impact of wage changes in one SME or SME sector in the local economy under the following two headings:

A list of CSO resources relevant to the project briefs is published here:

• Employment estimates are outlined in the Labour Force Survey (LFS) on a quarterly basis. The LFS is a continuous nationwide CSO survey of households in Ireland, primarily designed to produce quarterly labour force estimates that include the official measures of employment and unemployment in the state in accordance with International Labour Organisation (ILO) concepts and definitions. The results for LFS Quarter 3 (Q3) 2024 is expected to be published on 20 November 2024.
• The official source of short-term statistics on wages and labour costs is the Earnings and Labour Costs (ELC) release, based on information collected by the Earnings, Hours and Employment Costs Survey (EHECS). The survey meets the requirements for statistics on earnings and labour costs set out in Council Regulation (EC) 530/1999. The ELC release is published quarterly. Results for the most recent quarter are published initially as “Preliminary” estimates and are revised and republished as “Final” when the next quarterly release is published three months later. Preliminary estimates for Q3 2024, together with final estimates for Q2 2024, are expected to be published on 26 November 2024.
• The ELC release contains estimates in relation to earnings and labour costs by NACE economic sector, Public/Private sector status, and by size of the enterprise by employees, as well as estimates in relation to job vacancies . The ELC does not have any estimates in relation to employee characteristics. The CSO’s open data tables (PxStat tables), which are available on  data.cso.ie, related to the release are available on a  quarterly and annual basis . The data collected by the EHECS forms the basis for the Labour Cost Index , which provides comparable data on labour costs by country.
• Earnings Analysis using Administrative Data Sources (EAADS) is an administrative source of earnings estimates. Administrative data is data collected by Civil and Public Service bodies to produce official statistics. EAADS contains annual and weekly earnings estimates for several variables, including sex, age group, region of residence, economic sector, and firm size. The types of jobs included in each economic sector are detailed in the economic classifications ( NACE Rev2 ) published by  EuroStat. The estimates presented in EAADS are nominal earnings and are not adjusted for inflation. Please note that the earnings estimates presented in EAADS do not account for hours worked, or whether an employment was full-time or part-time. Information regarding hours worked can be found in the Labour Force Survey .
• The Gender Pay Gap abbreviated as GPG, is the official estimate reffering to the difference in average hourly wages between males and females. The GPG is calculated according to the following definition: GPG = [(average gross hourly earnings of male paid employees - average gross hourly earnings of female paid employees) / average gross hourly earnings of male paid employees] expressed in %.
• The  National Minimum Wage (NMW) estimates are based on self-assessment questions in the LFS. Respondents are asked whether their gross earnings and allowances were above, at or below the NMW. Note, statistics published on NMW are based on population estimates which have not been updated following Census 2022, see LFS Background Notes . LFS estimates on NMW will be updated in the coming days.
• Information about Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can be found in the Business In Ireland: Detailed Results release. This includes the percentage share of employment, turnover and other key variables made up by SMEs. The latest release covers the year 2021 and data for 2022 is due to be published in November 2024.

Further details, including data sources and methodology, can be found in the Background Notes section of each release.

Statistical Database

PxStat tables can be accessed through the Data chapter of each release or through the CSO’s Statistical Database. Additional tables, on Earnings and LFS estimates on NMW will be published in the coming days.

Leaving Certificate 2025: Economics Research Project PxStat tables

Datasets related to this release.

• LCEA01: Mean and Median Earnings Estimates by Sex, Size Class, NACE Rev 2 Economic Sector and Year
• LCEA02: Mean and Median Earnings Estimates by Sex, Size Class, County and Year
• LCEA03: Mean and Median Earnings Estimates by Size Class, NACE Rev 2 Economic Sector, NUTS 3 Region and Year
• LCEA04: Mean and Median Earnings per Hour by Size of Enterprise, Sex, NACE Rev 2 Economic Sector and Year

List of Project Resources by theme

For a condensed list of all resources by project theme, please see the table below.

Additional resources which may be relevant:

• National Minimum Wage
• Low Pay Commission Annual Report 2023
• Public Sector Pay Agreement 2024 - 2026
• Building Momentum Public Service Agreement 2021-2022
• Consumer Price Index

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Ms. Clancy's Economics

• Introduction
• Demand & Supply
• Market Equilibrium
• Elasticities
• Costs, Revenues and Profits
• Perfect Competition
• Imperfect competition
• Market Failure
• Government Intervention
• National Income
• Fiscal Policy & National Budget
• Unemployment (& Labour)
• Price Level & Monetary Policy
• Financial Sector
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• Globalisation
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Economics for the Leaving Cert

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ST RAND 1: WHAT IS ECONOMICS ABOUT?

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STRAND 2: HOW ARE ECONOMIC DECISIONS MADE?

• 2.1 The market economy
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STRAND 3: WHAT CAN MARKETS DO?

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STRAND 5: HOW IS THE ECONOMY INFLUENCED BY INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS?

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