15 October 2022
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
The Morgan McKinley Quarterly Employment Monitor registered an overall 6.9% increase in the number of new professional job opportunities in Q3 2022 compared sequentially to the second quarter across all professional sectors. However, the monitor also recorded a decrease of -3.3% in the number of professionals actively seeking new job opportunities compared to the previous quarter.
The Morgan McKinley employment monitor measures the pulse of the Irish professional jobs market by tracking the number of new job vacancies and new candidates in the Republic of Ireland each quarter. In order to reflect the changing dynamics of the current employment market, Morgan McKinley are including both permanent and contract jobs in the employment monitor.
The latest monitor reveals that the housing and cost-of-living crises are having a major impact on hiring, with Dublin based companies particularly struggling to find talent due to limited accommodation. The market remains candidate driven as salaries continue to be under pressure across most sectors, pushed by inflation, skills shortages, and with candidates having multiple options to choose from. Flexible working remains a priority, with most candidates preferring a hybrid working model. Companies with fully onsite working models face deep challenges in staffing.
Trayc Keevans
Trayc Keevans, Global FDI Director, Morgan McKinley Ireland, said:
“There has been a notable and sustained decline in the availability of emerging talent. The impact of this is being felt in the employment market with employers struggling to fill entry level and graduate positions as this talent cohort is emigrating due to the lack of housing and the cost-of-living crisis. Australia, UK, and Canada were the primary destinations for departing talent over the last quarter, followed by Singapore, Dubai, Bermuda, and the Cayman Islands. Continental European locations like Spain, France and Germany have also proven popular with new graduates.
“The remaining talent at this level are not compromising on salary demands of up to 20% higher than current norms for entry-level and early-career qualified roles. Furthermore, these entry level roles are now also being filled with more experienced talent on higher salaries resulting in higher overall employment costs for businesses.
“Employment permits are being processed at almost double the rate of last year due to a tripling of government staff to reduce the processing times to the current run rate of 2-3 weeks. There is evidence that the largest proportion of these employment permits are going to professionals already in Ireland as companies are more confident that acquiring accommodation won’t be a barrier to their taking up the position. In addition, local relocations from the regions to Dublin and from Dublin to regional cities have been proving difficult. Employers are becoming more hesitant to offer a position to someone situated outside of their core location where they have an on-site or a hybrid working model in place.
“The financial services sector has seen an overall uptick in roles in the past quarter, with demand outweighing supply as increasing volumes of young talent emigrate and experienced professionals are less inclined to migrate to new companies, particularly in funds and asset management. Significant numbers of financial services professionals have left Dublin due to the cost of housing and childcare, and their resulting distance from the city centre continues to be a factor in a preference for hybrid and remote work. The housing shortage within Dublin is causing companies to struggle with securing overseas talent, leading to a reduction in non-EU professionals and a narrowing of the talent pool.
“Employee retention has become a primary focus of financial services employers. Talent retention is successful where employees have remote working options and are granted salary rises within their current roles. Salary increases are being seen across the board; funds and asset management roles have seen up to 15% salary increases, banking and insurance on average 5% increases, and governance roles have seen up to 10% salary increases.
“While the job market in accounting slowed down slightly, candidate demand continues to outweigh candidate availability in many cases. This shortage is particularly present among newly qualified candidates as many young people emigrate to Australia, the UK, and Canada directly after gaining their qualification. There is an anticipated increase in emigration expected in January 2023 after qualifications are completed. The younger, newly qualified candidates present in Ireland frequently seek higher salaries, jobs with fewer demands, and remote work. Across age groups, it is typical for candidates to have 3-4 offers on the table while in the hiring process.
“Our young legal talent are also completing their qualifications in Ireland and leaving for overseas opportunities. Approximately 40% of legal jobs filled in the last quarter are from returning migrants from the UK and Australia, however these tend to be more mature talent, while 25 to 30-year-olds are emigrating. The young talent remaining have higher salary expectations than ever and a focus on hybrid working models. In exchange for lower salaries, young legal talent are now seeking to enter an employer funded pension scheme early, such as from the first day of work rather than after probation. Increasing numbers of small legal firms are offering pension plans in order to remain competitive. Banks and commercial organisations have been seen to respond to pressures to increase pension contribution percentages above 5%; in workplaces that employ legal talent, legal jobs are seeing this rise as well.
“In the technology sector we are seeing some hiring freezes and we are starting to see some redundancies. Overall, the sector is seeing less of a loss of young talent when compared to other sectors, as technology graduates in Ireland are often comfortable enough with their salary and job options not to feel the need to emigrate. However, international awareness of Ireland’s scarce housing options is leading to a decrease in the volume of overseas technology talent applying for jobs in Ireland over the last quarter. Many technology employment permits are for candidates already resident within Ireland and who have already secured accommodation, reducing employer options for technology hiring.
“Recent legislative changes in Ireland and the UK are also predicted to have an effect on the technology market. The newly announced budget measures improve fiscal options for contractors here in the form of the rent tax credit, household energy tax credit, and small benefit exemption scheme. This may cause a transition within Ireland where technology talent that formerly sought permanent work will consider a move towards contracting options. In the UK, we expect that the repeal of the IR35 tax regulations will increase opportunities for contractors, possibly leading to UK-based technology contractors in Ireland returning to the UK to work, though the effects of the IR35 change for Ireland remain to be seen.
“Meanwhile the Government’s recently announced 10% levy on concrete could cause further challenges for budgets in the construction sector, especially around pharma manufacturing, data centres, and housing growth plans. Consequently, there are early indicators that our construction talent are already looking at career opportunities outside of Ireland for the near future. Many young construction workers are working in Europe as Irish employers doing business in Europe are paying accommodation, travel, and leisure money; these workers may live in Ireland part-time but work on the mainland.”
Current most in-demand positions by discipline:
- Technology: Full-Stack Developers, Cloud Engineers, Data Engineers, Security Engineers, SOC Analysts, Site Reliability Engineers, DevOps Engineers, Developers with Java, .Net, Python, PhP, and Ruby on Rails Skills
- Life Sciences: Qualified Person, Process Engineer, Computer Systems Validation Specialist, Automation Engineer, Pharmaceutical manufacturing roles, goods manufacturers as well as Sterile Ops professionals with fill finish experience
- Financial Services: Case Managers, Mortgage Arrears Specialists, AML Analysts, Fund Accountants, Transfer Agency Supervisors, Claims Consultants, Pensions Administrators
- Accounting & Finance: Newly Qualified Accountants, Tax Accountants at all levels, Qualified Accountants with 1-3 years’ experience, Payroll Clerks, Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable Specialists
- Tax & Audit: Audit Senior (Qualified), Tax Manager, Tax Director, Audit Manager, Audit Director, Assistant Audit Manager
- Sales: Sales Executive, Account Manager, Sales Manager, Business Development Manager, Junior Sales Executive, Customer Service Advisor
- Legal: Privacy Lawyer, Investment Funds Lawyer, Corporate Lawyer, Banking Lawyer, Employment Lawyer
- Admin/Office Support: Graduates, Executive Assistants, Receptionists, Entry-Level Legal Admins with Financial Services
- Human Resources: HR Business Partner, Learning & Organisational Manager, Learning & Organisational Specialist, HR Generalist, Strategic People Partner, Talent & Attraction
- Multilingual: Senior Technical Support Analyst, Tier 2 Support Specialist, Customer Support Specialist, Process Analyst, Sales Development Representative
- Construction: Quantity Surveyors, Site Engineers, Project Managers, Mechanical Staff, Electrical Staff
- Marketing: Communications Specialist, Communications Manager, Brand Manager, Digital Marketing Specialist, Digital Marketing Manager, Marketing Executive, Marketing Manager
Statistical methodology
- Monthly new jobs and new candidates:
Monthly new jobs and new candidate figures are based on Morgan McKinley’s own monthly records of new permanent and contract job vacancies and new candidates registering with the firm for employment. Statistics for the full market are derived using Morgan McKinley’s own market share.
- Job classification:
Job vacancies are professional level roles within the following sectors and functions: Legal, Funds, Technology, Admin/Office Support, Sales, Supply Chain & Procurement, Life Sciences, Executive Search, HR, Multilingual, Contract, Marketing, Banking & Insurance, Accounting & Finance, and Projects/Transformation/Consulting.
- Geography:
The data is based on new job vacancies and new candidates registered with Morgan McKinley’s network of Irish offices in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford.
