Employment in the Pharmaceutical industry up by 60%, figures show

The sale of goods in the Pharmaceutical and Medical Technology sectors grew to €211bn in 2025, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office.

In terms of employment earnings in the Pharmaceutical and Medical Technology sectors, these were up from €4bnb in 2019 to €7.9bn in 2025. This is partly down to employment in the industry increasing by 60% and wage bills rising by 98%.

Just 14% of employees in the Pharmaceutical and Medical Technology sectors worked for Irish-owned companies, compared with 86% of employees working for foreign-owned enterprises.

The highest numbers of those employed in the sector lived in County Cork (17.3%), followed by Dublin (15.6%), and Galway (15.1%).

The CSO say that the majority of assets in the Pharmaceutical and Medical Technology sectors had owners based in the US.

Clare Sullivan, Statistician in the Balance of Payment Analysis and Dissemination Division, said: “

“Today’s Frontier release outlines the growth of employment in the Pharmaceutical and Medical Technology sectors from 60,537 in 2019 to 96,847 in 2025, an increase of 36,310 or 60.0% over the past 7 years. The highest percentage of those employed in these sectors lived in Co. Cork (17.3%), followed by Co. Dublin (15.6%) and Co. Galway (15.1%). Interestingly, there were people employed in these sectors who were living in every county in Ireland.

“The sale of goods in the Pharmaceutical and Medical Technology sectors between 2019 and 2025 rose from €105bn in 2019 to €211bn in 2025. Within this, international trade exports grew from €88.2bn in 2019 to €164.2bn in 2025. The exports in 2025 were largely dominated by sales to the US.

“Total financial and non-financial assets owned by the Pharmaceutical and Medical Technology sectors at the end of 2025 stood at €436bn, owned largely by enterprises with their ultimate owner based in the US at 85.0%.”