Job opportunities for Irish professionals rose marginally last month, seeing a 5pc month-on-month increase for June 2012, and a neglibible 1pc increase when compared with last year’s figure for the same period, according to the Morgan McKinley Irish Employment Monitor.
While there were more opportunities than in May of this year, June also saw a 20pc month-on-month decrease in the number of professionals entering the jobs market. However, this figure represents a 3pc increase on the same time last year.
“We are beginning to see the effects of the traditional seasonal downturn experienced over the summer months, which have slowed the volume of new jobs and new professionals emerging onto the market this month,” said Morgan McKinley COO Karen O’Flaherty.
O’Flaherty believes this is a reflection of employers’ need to cut costs and a trend towards temporary employment as a result. “The clarity gained in the recent enactment of the Agency Workers Directive coupled with the flexible, cost-effective aspects of contract hiring, is contributing to more jobs of this type being released, many contracts being extended further, and ultimately less of a focus on permanent hiring,” she said.
However, as has been reported previously, demand for IT professionals and those with multilingual skills across all sectors remains consistently high. “While the main bulk of hiring can be largely attributed to multinational companies we have noticed a slight uplift in the number of indigenous firms hiring IT and sales professionals,” said O’Flaherty.
As July and August are traditionally quieter months for recruitment, the hiring process is expected to continue at a slow pace throughout this period.
