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Increasing skills crucial to future of our economy

Published On:  Tue, Jan 8th, 2008
Contributed By:  Runway Recruitment Ireland

We should remember, though, that Ireland has seen unprecedented growth over recent years and although employment growth may be slowing there will be relatively more growth here than elsewhere in the EU.

We should also keep in mind that not all sectors of the economy will be hit by the predicted slowdown in the same way so it is important to understand where job opportunities will arise and to identify areas in which jobs are likely to be lost.

In Ireland, job opportunities still exist across the board: vacancies are numerous for high-skilled and low-skilled jobs. The areas most affected by skills shortages include financial services, construction, ICT, healthcare and wholesale and retail.

Construction is expected to continue to be affected. However, shortages are still expected in occupations such as quantity surveyors and building managers while numerous infrastructure projects currently running and planned will ensure that demand for civil engineers will continue.

With regard to financial services, Ireland is now one of the leading world centres for international banking and insurance.

Increases in demand for healthcare services in recent years have not been matched by an equivalent increase in the number of graduates.

Although employment growth is expected to slow significantly this year, it is estimated that approximately half a million jobs will be created in the Irish economy over the period 2005-2020. The highest increases are expected to occur in the services sector, healthcare and education.

The FÁS/ESRI Occupational Forecasts 2012, envisages that even in a low growth environment significant increases will occur in professional occupations in areas such as software engineering, health and financial/legal services. Employment for associate professionals, in particular in health and computing, is also set to rise as is the number of care assistants and sales-related occupations.

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