Irish recruitment company FRS Recruitment is forecasting a 25 per cent increase in job postings over the course of the 2021, as the economy stabilises following the uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit.
They anticipate that it will be a year of two halves, starting slowly but the roll-out of the vaccine will bring confidence back to the market and that will create a strong pipeline of employment opportunities as businesses seek extra resources in the second half of the year.
Demand for healthcare workers is likely to see overseas based candidates come back into consideration and there will be a continued demand for skilled IT personnel.
Other sectors likely to experience a strong increase in demand include roles in construction, life science as well as for temporary commercial and industrial personnel.
These forecasts were published in FRS Recruitment’s 2020 Review and 2021 Trend Forecast, entitled From Job Security to Opportunity.
The report also showed that the expected increase in roles next year will mark a change from 2020, when the number of job postings dropped by 36 per cent on the previous 12 months.
Job losses by sector
By sector, the largest drop in opportunities were in Arts, Entertainment and Recreation (down 75 per cent); Hotel and Hospitality (down 61.9 per cent) and Banking and Financial Services (down 58.2 per cent).
Although most sectors experienced a drop in the number of opportunities available, certain sectors actually recorded an increase, such as IT Support Services (up 174.1 per cent) and private sector healthcare (up 42.2 per cent).
There were also significant regional variations in recruitment opportunities during 2020. Despite the nationwide drop in opportunities, FRS recorded an increase in the number of vacancies in 12 of the Republic’s 26 counties last year.
The largest percentage increases were in Roscommon (up 115.4 per cent), Wexford (up 36.1 per cent) and Kildare (up 26.9 per cent).
The greatest decrease came in Westmeath (down 34.3 per cent), followed by Leitrim (down 33.3 per cent) and Dublin (28.3 per cent).
Although FRS noted a significant number of people were reluctant to change role during 2020 as they sought to maintain job security during the pandemic, the number of applications received by FRS actually increased by 2.8 per cent reaching 151,131 responses.
“There is no doubt that 2020 has been a challenging year for many sections of the economy and this had a direct impact on recruitment trends over the last 12 months,” said Colin Donnery, general manager of FRS Recruitment. “While the pandemic did create opportunities for some sectors, notably healthcare and IT, the mindset across the wider economy was more conservative with many companies and organisations implementing temporary hiring freezes."
Vaccine roll-out
“Next year should see a completely different recruitment environment. We anticipate the year will begin slowly as the continued uncertainty around lockdowns, and to a lesser extent Brexit, takes its toll. However, the roll-out of the vaccine and pressure on existing human resources is likely to see a strong demand for more personnel as the year progresses. This demand will be across most sectors, although we anticipate particular need in healthcare, IT, construction, life sciences as well as temporary roles in commercial and industrial. It will be a year of two halves, but the overall employment trends should track ahead of 2020.”
