Data shows continuing challenge for tech recruitment in Ireland

Employers of tech talent in Ireland are relying to an increasing degree on interest from foreign job seekers to fill roles in this fast-growing sector...

According to data from the world’s largest job site Indeed, 25 per cent of clicks on tech jobs in Ireland came from abroad in 2018, an increase from 17 per cent five years ago.

Demand for highly skilled candidates for tech jobs remains robust in the Irish market and such jobs account for a substantial proportion of overall job postings on Indeed locally. 12 per cent of the total number of jobs posted on the site in Ireland in 2018 were in the tech space, with jobs such as software engineer, software architect and technical support specialist among those with the most openings.

One of the growing areas of tech is cybersecurity. Earlier this year, Indeed published separate data highlighting an elevated demand for candidates within the cybersecurity field, with an 18 per cent jump in demand from employers for such candidates far outstripping supply. Employers were most commonly seeking IT security specialists and security engineers, as well as IT auditors, security analysts and information security analysts.

Today’s research from Indeed shows that in the face of this sustained demand for tech talent, most of the growth in foreign jobseeker interest has come from outside of the EU. Five years ago, 7 per cent of job seeker interest in tech roles came from outside the EU – today that figure stands at 13 per cent. In contrast, the contribution of jobseekers for similar roles from the UK (6 per cent) and the rest of the EU (7 per cent) has remained relatively stable.

Commenting, Pawel Adrjan, Economist with Indeed said:

“Migration flows have always been a feature of the Irish labour market and clicks from abroad can be a good indicator of future migration intentions. With unemployment falling below 5% in today’s competitive labour market, employers in many sectors depend increasingly on inward migration to increase their workforce.

“It’s clear from the data that Ireland is attracting jobseekers from far and wide, from Brazil to India. Considering only 11 per cent of the clicks on a typical job posting on Indeed’s Ireland site come from outside the country, to see 25 per cent of clicks on tech roles coming from abroad reflects the shortage of labour facing tech employers in Ireland.” 

Table 1: Share of foreign clicks on tech jobs in Ireland in 2018 by country

UK 22.8
India 14.2
US 10.4
Spain 4.1
Brazil 3.7

 

At the global level, among a selection of medium-sized English-speaking countries, Ireland ranks second in terms of the share of foreign clicks on tech postings that it attracted in 2018.

Table 2: Foreign clicks as a share of all clicks on tech jobs in 2018 (%)

New Zealand 37.2
Ireland 25.3
Australia 23.7
Canada 14.9

 

About Indeed
Indeed currently employs over 1,000 people in Ireland, which is its headquarters for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). In Ireland Indeed has over 3.2 million unique visitors each month. Indeed has sites in more than 60 countries and 28 languages, and every month over 250 million jobseekers use the site to look for a new job.

Article Published: 15/08/2019