The Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII) has said there's a need for more gender and ethnic diversity to fill the roles created by growth in recent years.
PRII's second-ever census and first since 2019, carried out with 300 respondents by Amárach Research, found that the profession is not representative of Irish society with 8% of roles filled by people who are not Irish compared to 18.5% in the wider workforce.
There are more women than men working in senior public relations roles both in agency and in-house, and 69% of people working in the sector are women, which is consistent with the gender breakdown in the UK, prompting the PRII to encourage more men to join profession.
Overall, 53% of communications professionals work in-house, of which 31% are in the public sector including government and semi-state bodies and 22% work in the private sector. A further 35% work in agencies and 10% are self-employed.
Some 41% earn between €45,000 and €80,000, with 71% receiving pay raises in the past year and 41% receiving a bonus payment. Furthermore, the study shows a good level of social mobility and reasonable age distribution -- 30% are under 35 and 15% are over 55.
In Association with
Around 4% of respondents reported they had a disability, and half said their employer had accommodated their needs. Meanwhile, 75% of respondents said they had a healthy work-life balance, and 80% said they have a good career ahead, up from 75% in 2019.
For both agency and in-house practitioners, in terms of time allocated to tasks, communication strategy development and media relations continue to dominate. Event management, however, has not returned to 2019 levels of activity.
Education levels are high, with 89% holding a professional qualification related to their work, up 7% on 2019, while nearly 40% hold a Masters or equivalent. Six in 10 respondents spent time on training and professional development in the past year.
Padraig McKeon, president of the PRII, said: "While it was reaffirming to see the profession thriving, the census also highlighted the key challenges for leadership in developing the profile of the communications sector.
"Knowing we need to broaden the appeal of the profession to attract talent is critical and, I thank the efforts of everyone involved in carrying out this census.”
“It was gratifying to see so many believing public relations offers them a good, life-long, career,” said Dr Martina Byrne, CEO of PRII.“It's encouraging that graduates from various disciplines, not just communications, enter the profession.
"We are already tackling some key issues the results have shed light on, including the need to have more diversity in the profession and ensuring better gender balance by encouraging more male entrants to the profession.”
(Pic: Getty Images)
