Quarterly Employment Monitor: Professional Employment Market Stabilising After Overall 18% Decline In Vacancies Through 2023

• Ending the year with festive seasonal slowdown
• Overall stability in salaries reflects a cautiously evolving job market
• Employers increasingly favour on-site work presence, indicating shift from hybrid model

Click here to view the full report.

Ireland's professional jobs market is showing signs of stabilising following an overall total decline of 18% in openings through 2023.

The fourth quarter of 2023 saw a 0.7% decrease in openings, compared to Q3 reflecting a more moderate position in line with seasonal and year-end considerations, according to the Morgan McKinley Ireland Employment Monitor for Q4, 2023. Salaries also remained stable during the last quarter of the year.

The Morgan McKinley Employment Monitor recorded a 10% fall in the number of professional job seekers between the third and fourth quarters, reflecting an overall 30% reduction for the year. This suggests growing stability in job tenures and a lower rate of attrition, likely influenced by effective organisational retention strategies and job seekers’ cautious approach in a fluctuating economic climate.

The overall decrease in job openings and the cautious approach of job seekers indicates a more balanced market, and one that remains vigilant amid global economic uncertainty.

Overall, the most significant number of job openings was in the first quarter, indicating a trend towards market stabilisation, especially in sectors such as Financial Services, Technology, and Life Sciences. However, certain areas like Projects, Transformation and Change, and Supply Chain saw slight declines, primarily due to budget overruns. Job market activity increased in the first two months of Q4 but experienced the usual decline towards year-end in December.

Trayc Keevans, Global FDI Director, Morgan McKinley Ireland, said:

“2023 involved significant adjustments in Ireland's job market, marked on the one hand by resilience and on the other by strategic shifts in various industries. Financial Services, Technology, and Life Sciences demonstrated ongoing strength, in spite of some significant cutbacks by largescale employers in the digital platforms sector.

“The implementation of EU cybersecurity regulations (such as ‘NIS2’ and ‘DORA’) led to increased demand for specialised positions, particularly in cybersecurity and digital resilience. Looking ahead to 2024, this pattern of responding to evolving environments and regulatory requirements is likely to persist, where companies will prioritise innovative skills to remain competitive in a continuously evolving digital world.

“Despite some regional variations and increases in specific roles, the overall stability in salaries reflects a cautiously evolving job market. Many organisations are not seeing the need to significantly increase salaries to attract and retain talent. Additionally, we've seen a notable trend where employers are increasingly seeking more on-site presence from employees, signalling a shift from the prevalent hybrid working model to a more balanced dynamic between remote and on-site work.

“The financial services sector showed a continuation of the cautious approach adopted from Q3 onwards, with no significant increase in hiring. In addition, over the last quarter, employers remained less open to look overseas for talent due to the accommodation crisis making the relocation process challenging.

“In accounting and finance, there was a moderate decrease in demand for permanent roles, mainly due to end-of-year factors. However, there was a slight increase in demand for contract positions as companies addressed immediate talent needs while planning for 2024. Regions like the west of Ireland saw an increase in permanent positions due to new job announcements and expansions.

“The life sciences sector experienced a moderate decrease in demand for permanent positions, with a focus on contract-based hiring aligned with budget considerations for the new year. We are expecting to see an uplift in hiring as several large pharmaceutical companies have expansion projects pipelined for 2024. The engineering sector, on the other hand, maintained stable demand for both permanent and contract positions.

“In the technology sector, there was a noticeable increase in demand both for permanent and contract positions, driven by end-of-year budget approvals and a proactive approach to securing top talent for 2024. The most in-demand skills included Cloud Computing, Kubernetes, Oracle, React, and TOGAF (The Open Group Architectural Framework) certification, reflecting companies' efforts to modernise and scale their technology stacks. Interestingly, mobile development saw a decrease in demand due to market saturation and a shift towards Cross-Platform Development frameworks like React Native or Flutter.

“In the legal sector, demand slowed down, mirroring the trends also seen in London's legal hiring market, which has also slowed down significantly primarily for economic reasons.

“There is a correlation between the movement of local qualified lawyers to London seeking higher salaries and the knock-on effect on job openings here to backfill the positions they vacate locally. Skills in commercial contracts and employment legal advice remained in demand, but there was a slowdown in the demand for property lawyers.

“Construction experienced a modest increase in demand for construction talent due to the ongoing work in the market, particularly for Project Management and Quantity Surveying roles. Both employers and professionals relocating are still frustrated with the lack of accommodation available in the country to welcome overseas talent.”

Current most in-demand positions by discipline:

Technology: Cyber Security Analyst, Cyber Security Senior Analyst, Cloud Operations Specialist, Software Developer, QA Engineer, Enterprise Architect, DevOps Engineer, Chief Information Security Officer

Financial Services: Fund Accounting Manager, Fund Oversight Manager, Relationship Manager - Banking, Mortgage Underwriter, Chief Risk Officer, Fund Oversight Specialist, Asset Servicing Manager - Depositary, Compliance Specialist - Depositary Services, Private Equity Fund Accountants, AML Onboarding Specialists, Commercial Underwriters, Insurance Brokers (Personal Lines, Commercial Lines), AML Analysts, Data Protection Roles, Quantitative Risk roles and MLRO roles.

Accounting & Finance: Financial Accountant, Newly Qualified Accountant, Qualified Accountants with 2-3 years of PQE, Tax Analyst, Accounts Payable/Accounts Receivable Specialist, Finance Business Partner, Commercial Financial Analyst, Accounts Assistant, Financial Controller.

Life Sciences: Quality Specialist, QA Auditor, QC Analyst, QC Manager Quality Engineer.

Engineering: Electrical Engineer, Maintenance Engineer, Process Engineer, Mechanical Design Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer.

Projects, Transformation & Change: Project Manager, Program Manager, Project Management Officer (PMO), SAP Consultant, Business Analyst, Transformation Manager, Change Manager.

Business Support: Executive Assistant, Facilities Coordinator, Legal Secretary, Office Administrator, Customer Service Executive.

Human Resources: Head of HR, HR Manager, HR Business Partner, Talent Acquisition Specialist, HR Administrator, HR Systems Analyst, HR Operations Specialist, HR Project Specialist.

Construction: Project Manager, Quantity Surveyor, Civil Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, Electrical Engineer, Resident Engineer, Project Planner/Scheduler.

Supply Chain & Procurement: Procurement Manager, Procurement Specialist, Planners.

Multilingual: Inside Sales Representative, Business Development Representative, Operations Executive, Administrator, Account Executive, Customer Service Representative.

Marketing: Marketing Manager, Marketing Executive, Brand Manager, Communications Lead, Events & Sponsorship Manager.

Legal: Corporate Lawyer, Commercial Lawyer, Banking Lawyer, Employment Lawyer, Energy Lawyer, Company Secretary.

Statistical methodology

• Monthly new jobs and new candidates:

Monthly new jobs and new candidate figures are based on Morgan McKinley’s 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 market share.

• Job classification:

Job vacancies are professional-level positions within the following sectors and functions: Legal, Financial Services, Technology, Accounting & Finance, Business Support, Sales & Marketing, HR, Multilingual, Supply Chain & Procurement, Life Sciences & Engineering, Project, Change & Transformation and Executive.

• 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.