Just over one-third of foreign nationals assigned Personal Public Service (PPS) numbers last year were in employment, new figures show.

The data which is based upon figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Revenue and the Department of Social Protection, shows that of the 85,724 individuals aged 15 years and over who were allocated PPS numbers in 2014, 29,637 had employment.

PPS numbers enable people to access social welfare benefits and a range of public services. Those taking up employment must have such a number to register with Revenue.

The research also shows one-fifth of foreign nationals assigned Personal Public Service (PPS) numbers back in 2009 were in work last year. The figures reveal some 12,346 individuals in receipt of PPS numbers had employment in 2014, equivalent to 19.6 per cent of the 62,984 foreign nationals assigned such numbers five years earlier.

Employment and social welfare activity rates for foreign nationals last year ranged from a low of 30.4 per cent for 2009 allocations to a high of 47.4 per cent in 2013.

Foreign nationals from the EU15 to EU25 states had the highest activity rate in 2014, with 54.5 per cent of PPS allocations recording employment or engagement with the social welfare system in the year. This was followed by nationals from the EU15 (excluding Ireland and the UK) with 46.7 per cent. The Rest of the World had 27,242 PPS number allocations last year, with a 32.6 per cent activity rate in the year.

Employment activity for foreign nationals granted PPS numbers in the year of arrival rose by 2.5 from 2013 to 2014. However, as the number of allocations increased by 13.1 per cent in the year, the employment activity rate in the year of allocation fell 3.6 percentage points from 38.1 per cent in 2013 to 34.6 per cent last year.

Overall, PPS number allocations to foreign nationals across all age groups totalled 96,167 in 2014. This marks a 12.9 per cent rise on 2013 allocations.

2012 represented the first rise in the number of PPS numbers allocated after falls in all years since 2009 when PPPS number allocations to foreign nationals stood at 79,161.

The figures show that from the period 2002 to 2014, a total of 337,150 foreign nationals who had been assigned PPS numbers were in work with the largest numbers employed in the accommodation and food service activities sector.