Client News > Release

22-07-2010

Irish professional job opportunities rise by 38% compared to a year ago - Premier Group Irish Employment Monitor

"Monitoring the pulse of the Irish professional jobs market”

Highlights

June 10 saw a 38% increase in new job opportunities for professionals in Ireland compared to June 09

Month-on-month, the volume of new professional job vacancies in Ireland decreased by 7% in June 10

H1 10 saw a 31% increase in newly available professional jobs across Ireland compared to H2 09

There was a 55% rise in professionals entering the jobs market from June 09 to June 10

Compared to the previous month, the number of professionals beginning their job search increased by 12% in June 10

The Premier Group Irish Employment Monitor registered a 38% increase in new professional job opportunities in June 10 compared to a year ago with vacancies rising from 4,117 in June 09 to 5,669 in June 10. Month-on-month however, job volumes showed a drop of 7% from 6,124 in May 10 to 5,669 in June 10.

While the number of new available jobs has increased since June 09, the number of professionals in the Irish jobs market has also risen, with a 55% increase from 8,070 in June 09 to 12,480 in June 10. Month-on-month, the volume of professionals looking for new career opportunities has also increased by 12%, rising from 11,135 in May 10 to 12,480 in June 10.

Brian Murphy, CEO of Premier Group in Ireland commented:

“Although June 10 saw new professional job opportunities decrease by 7% compared to May 10, the volume of job vacancies was still at the second highest level since November 08. The drop is also being measured against May 10, which experienced the highest number of new professional jobs coming on to the market since October 08.

“It is encouraging to consider the significant professional jobs growth of 31% that we have experienced in the Irish market in H1 10 over H2 09. Since the lows experienced in Q3 09 we have now seen three consecutive quarters of growth in job numbers: Q4 09 grew by 13% over Q3 09, Q1 10 grew by 18% over Q4 09 and Q2 10 has grown by 8% over Q1 10.

While these growth levels are coming off the very low base experienced in Q3 09, they give hope that perhaps the worst is behind us and indicate that some confidence has returned to the jobs market and businesses are taking a more positive approach to hiring.

“The IT sector has shown particularly strong growth for the second consecutive month with high demand for software developers driven partly by new business operations entering the Irish IT market in recent months. Professionals with experience in Java.net, C++ and Sharepoint have been in particular demand to fill the increasing volume of roles requiring these skills. This is a trend that we expect to see continuing into Q3 10.

“Candidate availability remained strong in June 10 with a 12% increase on the previous month. Many companies are still quite selective when recruiting so the market remains challenging for professionals looking for new jobs. However, as the IT market has shown over the last couple of months the pool of talent available is not bottomless and as demand picks up in niche areas companies may speed up their decision-making to ensure success with their hiring requirements.”

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