The latest IrishJobs.ie index has revealed a continued upward trend at the beginning of 2011. The expanded quarterly IrishJobs.ie report is presented by economist Dr Stephen Kinsella and measures jobs advertised online across the main recruitment websites in Ireland. Figures released for Q1 2011 also showed an increase in salary expectations by an average of €3,000 relative to this time last year, even as unemployment in Ireland reached 14.7 per cent.
Comparing Q1 2011 with Q1 2010 the highest increase in new jobs advertised online was for HR and recruitment (+174 per cent ) and marketing (+173 per cent ) (albeit these sectors were from a relatively low sample base ). The number of jobs advertised for sales was up by 62 per cent. Science, pharmaceutical and food saw a significant increase of 47 per cent in Q1 2011 compared with Q1 2010.
Other sectors demonstrating increased jobs activity relative to Q1 2010 included secretarial and admin (+32 per cent ); engineering and utilities (+57 per cent ); accountancy and finance (+87 per cent ); IT (+95 per cent ); and customer service and call centres (+23 per cent ).
Throughout 2010 and the beginning of 2011, there is evidence of a steady pattern of growth across many sectors according to the IrishJobs.ie jobs index.
“This is a surprising set of figures,” said Dr Stephen Kinsella, author of the IrishJobs.ie report. “Amidst the doom and gloom of the overall unemployment figures, we are seeing evidence of a positive movement in the labour market in certain sectors, notably professional services.
“This is encouraging and we hope that this positive jobs market activity will be evidenced in the second quarter of 2011 following the jobs initiatives of the new Government,” he added.
The expected starting salary of new CVs gathered by the index in 2011 is up in contrast with the first quarter of 2010. More people uploading new CVs in 2011 are expecting to start on higher than average 2010 salaries, almost €3,000 more.
