Professional job opportunities in May numbered over 12,000, down by 1% when compared with the previous month, according to the Morgan McKinley Irish Employment Monitor.

The number of professionals seeking new roles rose by 9% in May (8,300) when compared with April 2016 (7,588). There was a decrease of 9% overall in professional job opportunities compared with May 2015.

Ronan Hill, operations director finance with Morgan McKinley Ireland, commented: “Global uncertainty and concerns over the possible impact of Brexit are impacting the pace of recruitment, creating a level of inertia in the hiring market when compared to the same time last year.

“In particular, the prospect of Britain leaving the EU, however slight at this juncture, has undoubtedly had a dampening effect on hiring intentions and patterns over the last weeks. Conversely, we anticipate Ireland could be in for a significant jobs boost in the event of a Remain vote, with companies experiencing a renewed sense of confidence in resource planning.”

Talent Shortages

In May, big data and security roles were the primary drivers of the IT sector. Hill said that talent shortages were still a concern within the industry. “We have seen permanent roles migrating to contract status due to time pressure and candidate shortages,” he explained.

In Association with

Hill also pointed out that salary inflation continued to be a feature of sectors with a more limited pool of talent, such as IT and multilingual. “The increase, year-on-year, in the number of work permits being granted to employers to enable them to bring non-EU citizens to work in Ireland is an indicator of how necessary a pipeline of international talent has become.”

In finance, the growth of fintech continued to create new demand for professionals with both finance and technology backgrounds in May. The funds sector however remained static.

Hill added: “Decisions on new hires across a variety of sectors have shown signs of a slowdown in Q2, primarily due to international uncertainty."