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More professional job vacancies in Q3

Wednesday, October 10 11:31:55

There was a 6pc increase in professional job vacancies coming on to the market in the third quarter compared to a year ago though the number of opportunities fell by 2pc compared to the previous three months.

That's according to the latest Morgan McKinley Irish Employment Monitor, which showed that this year so far has seen an overall increase in the total number of available jobs compared to January - September of last year.

Furthermore, taking the month of September alone, there was an 18pc increase on the number of new professional job vacancies registered from 7,500 in September 2011 to 8,851. Month-on-month job availability rose by 13pc from 7,828 professional job opportunities in August 12.

With regard to new professional job seekers entering the market between September last year, the number remained fairly stable rising 1pc from 10,105 to 10,225. Month-on-month this was a fall of 8pc from 11,120 in August 12 to 10,225 in September 12.

Karen O'Flaherty, Chief Operations Officer, Morgan McKinley said that reviewing job opportunities across an entire quarter provides us with greater insight into trends across the professional jobs market and also how it is faring compared to previous years.

"The 6pc rise in job availability from Q3 2011 to Q3 2012 follows a pattern of rises from Q3 to Q3 since job opportunities fell dramatically at the start of the downturn in 2008. Although there was a 2pc drop from Q2 2012 to Q3 2012 which suggests there is no room for complacency about jobs market recovery, compared to earlier years, overall there is an emerging picture of steady improvement across the market. "Drilling down further, Q3 2012 has ended on a strong note, with an 18pc increase in professional job opportunities from September 2011 compared to September 2012. Despite fluctuations in the hiring market this year, the overall number of roles coming onto the professional jobs market exceeds 2011 and this increase in September 2012 underlines the trend for improvement in the market this year," he said.

"We can attribute this increase to a number of factors such as the uplift in start up businesses, increased foreign direct investment as well as sectors such as IT, manufacturing and life sciences which have all experienced growth throughout 2012. In addition, looking back to this time last year, September 11 was an unusually 'flat' month for hiring and registered a downward trend. The significant rise in jobs in September 2012 partially reflects the low base of the previous year."