Research from Berkley Recruitment Group has shown Irish workers to be more optimistic about their jobs than some of their European counterparts; however, a significant number are still willing to leave Ireland for better opportunities.
The study, which surveyed 2,369 workers worldwide, found that 48pc of Irish workers would consider emigrating to change jobs.
“That almost half of Irish employees surveyed would consider emigrating to change jobs is a pretty shocking statistic,” said Fergal Brosnan, managing director of Berkley. “The only gloss you can put on that is the figures are even higher in other EU countries – in Spain and Italy over 85pc of respondents would emigrate for a career move. While all workforces are more mobile than ever, it does say something about the limited choices that many employees feel they are faced with.”
Increasing optimism
That said, Irish workers also showed themselves to be increasingly optimistic about their current jobs, with 40pc saying prospects are improving compared to 37pc six months ago. Their European counterparts don’t see the glass quite as full, with fewer workers in Italy (38pc), the UK (37pc), France (36pc), Spain (35pc) and Germany (27pc) confident that their prospects are improving.
Only 23pc of Irish workers believe their chance at a promotion has improved since this time last year, but again this is more optimistic than 20pc of workers in Germany, 18pc in the UK, and just 3pc in France.
Confidence in the economy is still low, though, as 68pc of Irish staff think that their job would be at risk if the euro were to collapse.
