The Morgan McKinley Irish Employment Monitor, which tracks the number of job vacancies in professional-level roles, as well as the number of professionals entering the jobs market, has reported a 16pc decline in professional jobs available from November 2012 to December. However, the overall figures for Q4 2012 and a year-on-year comparison paints a more encouraging picture.
The Morgan McKinley report focuses on roles available in banking and financial services, commerce and industry finance, insurance, public practice and tax, legal services, HR, IT, life sciences, engineering, process and manufacturing, professional services, sales and marketing, customer service, and secretarial and office support.
In December 2012, the number of jobs available dropped from 8,187 in November to 6,861. However, compared to December 2011, the market had seen an increase of 2pc, while overall figures for Q4 2012 shows that job opportunities have risen 6pc on Q4 2011.
A month of two halves
“December was a month of two halves in the Irish professional jobs market,” said Karen O’Flaherty, chief operations officer at Morgan McKinley, who explains the month-on-month decrease as “the return of the traditional year-end slow-down”.
“However, while the new jobs figure declined there was a ramp up in hiring processes as managers focused on confirming agreed hires before the new year,” she added.
“The modest increase in job availability compared to December last year is encouraging and, compared to Q4 2011, there have been a greater number of jobs available throughout Q4 2012 – also a positive future indicator,” she continued.
“As we have seen throughout 2012, the main contributors to this figure continue to be MNCs, shared services centres and those within the ICT sector.”
Domestic talent
Year-on-year, there was a 7pc increase in the number of professionals entering the jobs market in December last year, from 5,620 to 6,000. But, again, compared to November 2012 there was a 38pc decrease.
“From the job seekers’ perspective, the decrease in December 2012 is due in part to the time of year but also many professionals are forced to consider opportunities outside of Ireland, subsequently diluting the potential pool of domestic talent,” explained O’Flaherty, though she retains a positive outlook.
“Market sentiment is positive as we progress into the new year,” she said. “Ireland has made a return to the bond market, our services sector is performing well due to a solid performance by Irish exports and the IDA has reported its highest net job creation in over a decade, so we can expect increased confidence in the hiring market in 2013.”
