Premier Group Irish Employment Monitor - May 2010

“Monitoring the pulse of the Irish professional jobs market”

Ireland sees 15% rise in professional job vacancies in May 10

Highlights

• May 10 saw the highest number of new professional jobs coming on to the market in any one month since Oct 08
• The volume of new professional job vacancies in Ireland increased by 15% month-on-month in May 10
• Compared to the same month a year ago, there was a 33% increase in new job opportunities for professionals
• The number of professionals beginning their job search decreased by 4% in May 10 compared to April 10
• Compared to May 09 however, there was a 46% increase in those looking for new roles in May 10

Job opportunities rise again in May 10

The Premier Group Irish Employment Monitor registered a 15% month-on-month increase in the number of professional job vacancies coming on to the market in May 10. Vacancies rose from 5,333 in April 10 to 6,117 in May 10. New jobs registered in May 09 were 4,602, thus May 10 saw a healthy 33% increase in the number of new professional job vacancies in that month.

There was also a 4% monthly decrease in the number of professionals entering the jobs market with numbers falling from 11,580 in April 10 to 11,135 in May 10. Compared to May 09 however, there was a significant increase in the volume of professionals who started looking for new career opportunities, rising by 46% from 7,625.

Brian Murphy, CEO of Premier Group in Ireland comments:
“We are pleased to see strong and positive growth in hiring within the professional employment market in May 10, which registered the highest level of new job opportunities so far this year. It’s encouraging that May 10 saw the greatest rise in new jobs coming to the market since October 08, a twenty month high.
 
“In May 10, Premier Group has seen an increase in activity across all its brands covering the finance, office support, technical and IT sectors.
 
“We were particularly pleased with the hiring activity in the IT sector, especially with senior appointments within financial and professional services and in the gaming sector. May 10  saw a significant number of medium to high level IT jobs becoming available in the development and design market. There has also been a significant jump in recent months in the demand for application support candidates driven by the growth of cloud computing.

“The employment market in Ireland which was severely challenged this time last year is slowly moving in the right direction.  Recent economic issues in the Eurozone however, may impact business activity across Europe. This gives us limited visibility of the potential for growth in business and recruitment in Ireland over the next few months.

“It’s good to see talented professionals remaining active in the jobs market in May 10.  The number of professionals looking for work has remained fairly similar to the previous two months, whilst at the same time job opportunities have risen for a second consecutive month in May 10.”

Chart: New jobs v. new candidates