Manufacturing labour demand up 43%: BoI index
Demand for labour in the manufacturing sector was 43% higher in the first quarter of this year than the last quarter of 2005, according to the latest Bank of Ireland Business Banking Job Index.
Despite fears about the long-term prospects of the sector, the current outlook is positive with 2,925 jobs advertised in the first three months of the year. Compared to the same month last year, 48% more manufacturing jobs were advertised in March.
The educational sector showed a 68% increase in jobs advertised compared with March last year.
Overall, 15,560 jobs were advertised in March 2006, a 1% increase on the previous year.
Other significant drivers of recruitment during March were the leisure sector with 2,272 jobs advertised, the healthcare sector with 2,290 and the construction sector with 2,503. In percentage terms, the leisure sector increased by 19% over March last year. Healthcare was up 17%.
The financial sector fared less well, with a 28% decrease in the amount of jobs advertised compared with the same month last year. The IT/tech and retail sectors suffered too, with drop-offs of 26% and 20% respectively. The professional sector recorded a drop of 10%.
At a regional level, indicators were mixed in the key urban centres with a drop in advertisements in both Cork (-40%) and Limerick (-19%) but increases were recorded in Galway (+54%) and Waterford (+1%) compared with the previous month. However, bucking the national trend, Limerick recorded a 360% increase in the IT/tech sector compared with February 2006.
Bank of Ireland business banking director Cathal Muckian said: "Despite the 43% increase in manufacturing vacancies this quarter over the corresponding period in 2005, recruitment in this sector in March is the lowest reported so far this year. However, recruitment in the sector remains strong and there has been a marked increase in Eurozone manufacturing activity this year."
Despite a recovery in the European technology sector and recent job creation announcements by Yahoo, Google, Amazon and Version 1 Software, recruitment in the IT sector remains weak nationally.
However, Eurocom’s annual IT confidence survey showed that 58% of firms in the sector expect to increase jobs in the next 12 months, while a skills shortage is cited as one of the most likely threats to growth in the sector.
BoI chief economist Dan McLaughlin said: "The Irish unemployment rate in March was unchanged for the fifth consecutive month at 4.5% and the Live Register has oscillated in a narrow range around the March total of 157,000 for the past 15 months.
"These trends imply that the increase in the labour supply is being broadly matched by job creation, yet the Job Index has weakened noticeably in recent months, albeit with a marginal bounce in March. It therefore seems unlikely that recruitment has fallen off substantially so the Index may be capturing some migration in job advertising away from the national papers."
