While job vacancies were down 11% year-on-year in Q4 of 2022, the number of vacancies nonetheless represented a 28% increase in vacancies since pre-Covid times, with a competitive jobs landscape expected to remain throughout 2023.

The data showed nine industries have tallied year-on-year gains in vacancies, while five industries have posted quarter-on-quarter gains in vacancies. The figures show the industries with the most stable gains in vacancies in Q4 2022 were Security, Customer Services, Health, and Media.

The industries with the largest number of jobs available were Hotel & Caterin, Medical Professionals and Healthcare, and Management. By location, Cork saw the largest increase in overall vacancy gains, followed by Offaly and Roscommon.

“Ireland’s job market enters 2023 in a strong position with the number of job vacancies in Ireland overall almost a third higher than pre-pandemic levels,” said Orla Moran, General Manager of IrishJobs.ie.

“The data from this latest Index shows us that the demand for skilled and experienced staff is not likely to end any time soon.

The ESRI is predicting that unemployment will remain under 5% for the next twelve months, and with such high levels of employment across all sectors, employers will need to look at their talent attraction strategies if they’re to entice people to change jobs against an uncertain economic outlook,” she concluded.