Irish employers are keener to hire extra staff over the next few months than they have been since 2007, according to a survey published by recruitment firm Manpower.

The survey, which measures employers’ intentions to increase or decrease the number of employees in their workforce during the next quarter, shows that Irish employers across 11 sectors are reporting a seasonally adjusted Net Employment Outlook of +9% for the third quarter of 2016.

That is a four percentage point improvement over the last quarter and three percentage points ahead of the same time frame last year, according to Manpower. The firm added that the 9% jump is the strongest outlook reported in Ireland since Q2 2007.

The Manpower survey was conducted by interviewing a representative sample of 620 Irish employers. All survey participants were asked: “How do you anticipate total employment at your location to change in the three months to the end of September 2016 as compared to the current quarter?”

Good Intentions

Employers in the electricity, gas and water sector are forecasting the strongest hiring intentions of all 11 sectors evaluated for Q3 2016, with three out of every 10 employers indicating they will add to their payrolls in the next three months.

In Association with

Bosses in the restaurant and hotels sector were the next most eager to hire, while employers in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector registered the weakest hiring intentions for Q3 2016.

In terms of year-on-year growth, Manpower found that the transport, storage and communications sector, along with the mining and quarrying sector, are forecasting the strongest hiring intentions, with both growing by 10 percentage points.

Those sectors are followed by the pharmaceutical sector, which has grown seven percentage points to reach an outlook of +11%.

Regionally, employers in Dublin are reporting the strongest hiring intentions of all provinces polled, with an outlook of +15%, while employers in Ulster recorded the only negative hiring intentions with an outlook of -1%.

Commenting, Cara O Leary (pictured), sales director of Manpower Group Ireland, said: “The results strongly demonstrate that employer confidence in the Irish marketplace is growing at an accelerated pace.

“The news is also good at a regional level, with Dublin putting in a sterling performance. Leinster, Munster and Connaught are also performing well with strong single-digit growth, which will be of interest to those seeking positions outside of the capital.”