IDA Ireland’s latest quarterly labour market report found that interest in jobs offering remote working had tripled since last year.
One in every seven jobs advertised now offer remote working, according to a report on the labour market published by IDA Ireland.
The agency’s fourth quarterly Labour Market Pulse report, which looks at trends across the Irish jobs market, identified the top three industries offering remote working opportunities. Software and IT services came out on top, with 21pc of job ads offering remote working, followed by corporate services (19pc) and financial services (10pc).
The report, which IDA Ireland produced in partnership with LinkedIn and Microsoft, covers a three-month period from July to September 2021. It combined insights from LinkedIn’s 2m Irish members with publicly available data from IDA Ireland and the Central Statistics Office.
The report said that interest in remote jobs tripled in a year. LinkedIn data suggested that jobs offering remote working now make up 15pc of all job views and 16pc of all job applications. This is compared to 5pc of views and 5pc of applications being made for similar positions in the third quarter of 2020.
The data found that remote job postings in Ireland were at a similar level to the global average, which was 14pc in Q3 in 2021.
The report, which defined a ‘remote job’ as one where the job poster explicitly labelled it as ‘remote’ or if the job listing contained keywords such as ‘work from home’, also said that remote job postings have remained “at peak levels” despite loosening pandemic restrictions.
Having increased over 2020 and the first quarter of 2021, the report said that the share of people usually working from home fell slightly in Q2 2021 as public health restrictions were lifted, but remained well above pre-pandemic levels at 32pc.
“The future of work, fast-tracked by a year-long remote working experiment, is prompting a reassessment of where people work,” said Martin Shanahan, CEO of IDA Ireland. “The increase in remote working opportunities allows employers to tap into the talent base across all regions of Ireland.”
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar added that he was “aware that so many businesses are only getting back on their feet and are still struggling”.
But he said that the data around remote working was encouraging, and “making remote and blended working a bigger part of life after Covid is a priority for the Government”. Earlier this year, Varadkar launched the National Remote Work Strategy to make remote working a more permanent option in post-pandemic Ireland.
“It’s clear that employers are recognising the benefits of making it permanent, with such an increase in remote job postings. I hope this continues and the Government is putting in place the infrastructure, policies and laws to facilitate that,” Varadkar said.
In addition to the labour market report, LinkedIn commissioned research surveying more than 100 C-level executives in Ireland during August 2021 to understand how they were preparing for the future of work. A majority of those surveyed (79pc) said that a key short-term intention was to invest in digital transformation to support new ways of working.
“Our additional research also illustrates that businesses are actively considering the future of work, with digital transformation a key priority for many organisations over the next six months,” said Sharon McCooey, head of LinkedIn Ireland.
“Offering flexibility to current and prospective staff will be a key factor in retaining and attracting talent in the months ahead.”
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