Recruitment advertising in the daily and Sunday national newspapers fell by 5 per cent in October when compared to the same month last year, according to a monthly survey by Bank of Ireland.

The Business Banking Job Index showed that 16,920 recruitment adverts were placed in the national daily and Sunday newspapers in October, down from 21,782 in September. The bank said the September figure was "exceptionally strong", with the biggest number of adverts placed since the survey started in 2002.