has been the case during the recovery from the pandemic and the scale has been striking compared to historical data. quarterly net flows from inactivity to the labour force prior to the pandemic ranged from about minus 30, 000 to plus 70, 000. in the second and third quarters of last year, in contrast, positive net flows of about 130, 000 were observed. examining flows of workers from inactivity to the labour force by gender and age cohort, shows the increase is driven disproportionately by young workers, men and women under 25, and by women between the ages of 35 and 59. one might expect that pandemic - induced changes in work practices could be important for these particular sub - sets of the labour force. however, our analysis shows that this does not appear to be the primary factor driving the increase in their employment, at least through this phase of the recovery. for younger workers, the strength of the recovery has driven increased participation, pointing primarily to a cyclical explanation for the increase as opposed to a structural change. while for women, increased participation is part of a longer - term trend driven by a “ cohort effect ”. previous research has shown that female participation depends on both age and cohort effects. the age effect describes the feature of all labour markets where a woman aged 30 is more likely to participate in the labour force than a woman aged 20. this is similar for males and is a result of 20 year olds being more likely to still be in education. the cohort effect is that a woman aged 40 in 2022 is far more likely to participate than a 40 year old woman in 1998. her cohort, or the year in which the woman was born ( 1981 vs 1958 in my example ), is capturing the effect of all of the societal changes around female participation in the labour force over those years. this cohort effect has been particularly strong for female employment in ireland, and female participation still has a way to go – but developments in recent quarters have brought us closer to our international peers. the increase in female labour force participation is affected by the same cyclical factors affecting younger cohorts. however, it is also simply the result of a positive long - term change in the irish economy. that is, the increasing number of women participating in the labour force. so while the pandemic is likely to have effects on the labour market for some time to come, there appear to 2 / 4 bis

, culture in ireland, culture in the discipline of economics, and culture in the central bank itself. the effects – although subtle – definitely affected me in that there were no female role models, no one i could aspire to be like. all that changed, when in 2001, a woman was appointed as the first female head of division in the central bank and we have had a number of senior female appointments since. this changed my point of reference, and i know the reference points of many other senior women in our organization. i have since been privileged to hold significant positions of public service at both national and european level. looking back, one influential aspect was having people at senior levels to whom i could relate, and who i could see as role models. that made a difference in my career. i think the foundation of isw e and the work that is planned over the next few years can make a really positive contribution moving forward for female economists working across academia, public institutions and in the private sector. making progress is not something that will be achieved overnight, but i believe concrete steps to move towards greater gender balance will be very beneficial over time. isw e is something that i wish had been in place when i was thinking of 3 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches becoming an economist and starting out in my career. to conclude, i would like to again express my personal support, and the support of the central bank for the work you are undertaking. thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening. 1 1 i would like to thank paul reddan, tara mcindoe - calder and stephen byrne for their contributions to my remarks. 2 2 quarterly bulletin q2 2022, central bank of ireland. 3 3 inflation is projected to moderate to 2. 8 per cent in 2023 and 2. 1 per cent in 2024. 4 4 lydon, r., 2022. household characteristics, irish inflation and the cost of living. central bank of ireland, economic letter, vol. 2022, no. 1. 5 5 ecb monetary policy statement, 14 april 2022. 6 6 boyd, byrne, keenan and mcindoe - calder ( forthcoming ). pandemic puzzles : labour force recovery after a pandemic. quarterly bulletin signed article. 7 7 byrne, s. and o ’ brien, m. d., 2017. understanding irish labour force participation. the economic and social review, 48 ( 1, spring ), pp. 27 - 60