In this lesson you are participating in reading the labour market the way people who hire and plan actually read it: through a trend, not a single headline.

A job that felt permanent to someone your parents' age may have changed shape, moved online, or been rebuilt around new tools. A shortage that did not exist ten years ago can now decide whether a course or an apprenticeship is worth chasing. Today you will plot real figures, name what is driving the shape you see, and write why one trend matters for your generation.

Three terms you will use for the rest of this lesson. Read them once, then keep them beside you while you plot and write.

Drivers you will look for behind any trend: the wider economy, the environment and circular economy, advances in technology, and AI. Trends can be read at local, national or international level. A line on a chart only tells you what already happened. It does not, by itself, tell you what will happen next.

Circular economy is one driver you may use when the trend or sector you chose actually points there (repair, reuse logistics, waste recovery, green construction skills). It is not required for the class CSO employment series. If you do use it as a driver in your half-page, name a visible school-leaver effect rather than only the abstract definition.

You will do two connected things: plot a real national series so you can see its shape, then write a half-page on one labour-market trend and why it matters for your generation.

Part A: Plot the class series (about 12 minutes)

Open the trend-line tool. Plot these six points from the CSO Labour Force Survey headline series for persons in employment in Ireland. Figures are rounded to the nearest ten thousand for classroom plotting and are given in thousands of people.

Source: CSO Labour Force Survey annual headline employment figures, rounded for classroom plotting (see the specific release on cso.ie).

• 2019: 2,380
• 2020: 2,310
• 2021: 2,550
• 2022: 2,620
• 2023: 2,710
• 2024: 2,780

Add one point per year. Turn on the trend line and look at the shape before anyone explains it. Find the sharpest change. Name at least one driver that could sit behind the dip and one behind the climb (economy, environment, technology, AI, or something more specific such as public-health restrictions, housing demand, or sector growth).

Part B: Your portfolio half-page (about 20 minutes)

Create or open a document named Labour Market Trend in your Strand 1.2 folder (date the top). If you do not yet have that file, create Labour Market Trend in your Strand 1.2 folder now. Write roughly half a page that covers all of the following:

• The trend you are claiming, in one plain sentence (what changed, over which years).
• The source: use the CSO series above, or one other named source your teacher has cleared (for example a current IBEC commentary, an OECD labour outlook summary, or the ManpowerGroup Talent Shortage Survey). Name it.
• The shape: what the line does (dip, climb, flat, spike). Refer to at least two figures or years.
• The driver or drivers: economy, environment or circular economy, technology, AI, or a mix. Say which level you are reading (local, national, international). If you use environment or circular economy, name a visible school-leaver effect (repair, reuse logistics, waste recovery, green construction skills) rather than only the abstract label.
• Why it matters for your generation: connect it to a pathway, skill, or field from your Career Fields Shortlist if you already have one; if not, name one school-leaver pathway this trend would actually change (course, apprenticeship, or entry job). Be concrete. "Jobs will change" is not enough; say what a school-leaver would actually notice.

Finish with one honest line: what this trend does not tell you yet, and what you would still need to check before basing a big decision on it.

If you prefer to write about a sector trend tied to your own career-field shortlist (for example healthcare, construction, ICT, hospitality), keep the same structure and still name a real source and real figures. The class series is there so nobody is stuck without data.

Talk these through with the person beside you, or sit with them quietly on your own. Afterwards, if one answer is worth keeping, add it as a short note under your Labour Market Trend half-page in your own time.

1. A clean upward line can still hide a shortage. How can employment be rising overall while employers in one field still cannot fill roles?

2. "A line tells you what happened, not what will." If you were using today's trend to choose a course or apprenticeship, what second piece of evidence would you want before you trusted it?

Today you participated in reading the labour market through evidence, not slogans.

• You defined labour market, trend, and circular economy, and named key drivers: economy, environment, technology and AI.
• You plotted a real CSO Labour Force Survey employment series and read its shape before explaining it.
• You wrote a Labour Market Trend half-page: named source, shape, drivers, level of analysis, and why it matters for your generation.
• You practised the discipline that a line reports what already happened, and that big pathway decisions need more than one chart.

Keep Labour Market Trend in your Strand 1.2 folder. You will draw on trend-reading again when you build and refine your career progression plan later in this strand.