The April 2013 Morgan McKinley Irish Employment Monitor which tracks the number of new job vacancies and new candidates within the Republic of Ireland each month, was released today. The Monitor has so far this year registered an overall increase of 14% in the total number of available jobs in Q1 2013 (27,032) compared to Q4 of last year (23,733). The total number of jobs available when compared to Q1 2012 (27,020) remained flat, rising by 0.04%.
There was a 12% decrease in the number of new professional job opportunities from February 2013 (9,177) to March 13 (8,125). There was also a 12% decrease in the availability of new professional jobs registered compared to the same time last year (9,246).
The number of professionals seeking new job opportunities remained flat month-on-month, dropping by 3% from 9,800 in February 2013 to 9,500 in March 2013. This was a decrease of 22% when compared to March 2012 (12,200).
Karen O’Flaherty, Chief Operations Officer, Morgan McKinley commented: “Although job opportunities fell in the month of March 2013, looking at the wider picture, a 14% increase in professional job availability in Q1 2013 compared to Q4 2012 suggests that the hiring market is gradually improving. Sentiment amongst employers has improved in Q1 of this year compared to Q1 2012 and although we expect that confidence to continue, it is likely that any rise in job numbers will be modest and hiring forecasts are still likely to be relatively short-term.
“The decrease in job numbers can be partly attributed to the fact that two bank holidays fell in the month of March, making it a shorter than usual month and stifling the momentum of the recruitment process. Furthermore, the reduction in job figures is a result of the jobs numbers levelling-off after the seasonal upswing recorded in January. The improved Irish market sentiment and renewed confidence by employers and job professionals at the start of the year has been dampened slightly by the ongoing European economic issues.
“The areas where hiring has actually continued give us some insights into business growth plans. These include the fact that hiring for internal recruitment professionals has risen in recent months, a positive indicator that companies are concentrating on building their in-house teams to ramp up their overall hiring activities. Also demand for marketing and social media professionals remains consistently high. This reflects the growth of the online and e-commerce industry in Ireland and the need for indigenous companies to develop their online profiles and engage with their respective target markets.
“In terms of the number of professional job seekers entering the market, the decrease of 22% compared to March 2012 is partially due to fewer professional immigrants entering the Irish jobs market, resulting in candidate shortages in niche areas such as multi-lingual job roles as we have highlighted previously.
“Looking ahead, it’s likely that, hiring managers will continue to closely review all recruitment and be measured in their hiring and headcount expectations in line with market confidence for Q2.”
