Life sciences drive job availability up 10pc, regions booming

15 Oct 2015

A triumvirate of financial services, professional services and, interestingly, life sciences, has helped push the number of jobs available in Ireland up 10pc, with areas outside of Dublin feeling the benefit.

That 10pc rise is comparing September 2015 to 2014 (a rise of 4pc since August this year), with the number of professionals entering the jobs market up a massive 20pc on last year.

When looking at areas around Ireland, Cork’s job vacancies have nearly doubled since last year, with Limerick up by more than a fifth.

The life science aspect, given the spread of companies throughout the west of the country, has helped bring jobs to areas outside of Dublin, “attracting candidates from Dublin and internationally,” claims Morgan McKinley, who composed the research.

IT, as ever, is on the rise, with a jump of 5pc of jobs outside of Dublin since last month, with demand for Java developers continuing to rise over the past three months.

Jobs in Ireland – not just Dublin

Other areas of promise include accountants of all levels (all across the country), language skills and big data, the latter of which has seen demand in SQL and newer variants.

This is resulting in continued demand for software developers and QA professionals, something echoed by a jobs announcement yesterday by Test Triangle.

“Ireland remains the location of choice for many international life sciences companies and 2015 has witnessed a regular stream of positive jobs announcements, the majority of which have been outside the major urban centres,” said Karen O’Flaherty, COO of Morgan McKinley Ireland.

“As a key target for investment under the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs, the sector is helping to drive balanced growth, particularly in the south west and midlands corridor of the country. The scope, seniority and range of roles on offer is attracting professionals both from Dublin and further afield.

“We are seeing a continuation in tech where there is a huge demand for permanent positions in niche areas like Java, with not enough professionals available to fill the positions.”

Main image via Shutterstock

Gordon Hunt
By Gordon Hunt

Gordon Hunt joined Silicon Republic in October 2014 as a journalist. He spends most of his time avoiding conversations about music, appreciating even the least creative pun and rueing the day he panicked when meeting Paul McGrath. His favourite thing on the internet is the ‘Random Article’ link on Wikipedia.

Loading now, one moment please! Loading