The number of Irish job postings offering remote or hybrid work arrangements rose to a record high last year despite several well-known companies issuing return-to-office mandates to staff. That’s according to recruitment platform Indeed’s latest Irish jobs and hiring trends report.
The analysis, which is based on the company’s own recruitment data, said Irish job postings mentioning remote or hybrid work rose to 17.5 per cent at the end of December, four times the pre-pandemic rate. This level suggests that offering job flexibility remains an important part of recruiting talent, Indeed said.
This is especially the case in high demand professional and tech categories including media and communications, where the share of remote or hybrid job postings is 43 per cent, insurance (43 per cent) and software development (41 per cent).
The report’s findings come as several top financial companies begin enforcing return-to-office demands. Earlier this month US investment bank JP Morgan told staff, including Irish employees, that it wanted them in the office five days a week from March.
Indeed’s report suggested the Republic’s “tight” labour market was also supporting robust wage growth with jobseekers retaining “leverage when it comes to both pay and benefits”.
Posted wage growth was 4.6 per cent year-on-year in Ireland in December, having been running at 4 per cent or above since the start of 2024. This is above the euro area average of 3.3 per cent.
The company noted that the official data indicated that average weekly earnings across the broader Irish workforce rose 5.3 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter of last year and “with Irish inflation having eased to 1 per cent or below in recent months it means workers are benefiting from punchy real term pay growth, which is likely to support consumer spending into 2025″.
Indeed’s report finds Irish job postings have stabilised at levels comfortably above those recorded pre-pandemic, reflecting a bigger labour market. The report also noted that foreign interest in the Irish labour market has rebounded strongly from pandemic lows.
Jack Kennedy, senior economist at Indeed and author of the trends report, said: “The Irish economy enters 2025 in good shape, with forecasts pointing to a rebound in growth alongside low inflation and unemployment. “That said, geoeconomic risks are present, including possible changes in international trade and tax policy, which could potentially hit the Irish economy, given its trade dependency and reliance on the multinational sector. Domestic infrastructure constraints add to these vulnerabilities.”
“Despite global uncertainty the Irish labour market continues to be resilient and, for now at least, looks on course to remain so in 2025. For jobseekers that means they retain leverage when it comes to pay and benefits, as evidenced by robust wage growth and employers continuing to offer flexibility,” Mr Kennedy said.
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