Overall increase

Across all the employment sectors there was an overall annual increase in employment of 1.5% or 29,100 people in the year to the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2014, bringing total employment last year to 1,938,900.

Employment in agriculture

However, employment levels in agriculture fell during that time compared to the same time-frame in 2013, with 105,900 males and females employed in the industry in Q4 2014 compared to 116,800 males and females employed in agriculture in Q4 2013.

This represents a 9.3% decrease or drop of 10,900 people employed in agriculture between these periods.

Breakdown of results

The breakdown of these results show that the number of males aged 15 years and above employed in the sector dropped from 102.0 in Q4 2013 to 93.9 in Q4 2014, a decrease of 8.3%. However, Q4 2012 saw only 79.0 males employed in agriculture, forestry and fishing, which puts the figure from last year's quarter more into context.

Similarly, the number of females aged 15 years and above employed in the sector dropped from 14.8 in Q4 2013 to 12.0 in Q4 2014. Yet this figure stood at 11.0 in Q4 2012.