The 2023 National Skills Bulletin, presented by Solas, underscores a growing demand for skilled professionals in sectors like engineering, science, and healthcare in the upcoming years. Solas, the state entity overseeing funding, planning, and coordination of further education and training in Ireland, produces the Bulletin. This comprehensive report offers insights into the Irish labour market at an occupational level, pinpointing areas with shortages and recruitment challenges.
Despite robust employment growth in various sectors, the report reveals substantial recruitment hurdles due to identified skills shortages across multiple occupational domains. Science and engineering, ICT, health and social care, construction, other crafts, hospitality, transport, and logistics are all flagged for skills shortages.
Recruitment challenges extend to specific occupations, including social workers, project/operations managers, and production managers in manufacturing and construction. Notably, the research notes a significant surge in employment permits, with approximately 37,000 issued in 2022, surpassing the 14,000 issued in 2021 and any previous year.
In 2022, the ICT and health sectors dominated new permit issuance, accounting for over half, and professional occupations constituted nearly two-thirds of the total. Workforce growth was most pronounced in the Mid-East region, increasing by 6% between Q4 2021 and Q4 2022. With the exception of the border region, unemployment rates decreased across all regions in the preceding year.
Online job advertisements experienced a 2% uptick from 2021 to 2022, with notable increases in ads for education professionals, hospitality managers, and health professionals. Conversely, ads for plant operatives, other skilled trades, and ICT professionals witnessed declines.
Irish Samachar English News