By Joe Barrett

The number of job opportunities in Laois will grow by 5% in the coming year, according to a new forecast from FRS Recruitment.

This follows on from the 7% increase experienced in Laois last year.

While Laois experienced an increase in job openings last year, the counties to experience the highest increases included Dublin (up 36%), Wicklow (up 34%), Clare (up 31%), Sligo (up 15%), Cork (up 15%) and Roscommon, which recorded the highest year on year increase with the number of roles more than doubling (up 101%).  The largest decreases came in Kerry (down 10%), Leitrim, (down 9%) and Louth (down 7%).

Nationally the number of job postings handled by FRS Recruitment rose by 32% in 2022, reaching a total of 107,802 – up from 81,528 in 2021.

Despite the surge in opportunities available, the number of people applying for jobs was down last year. FRS Recruitment recorded a total of 123,305 job responses in 2022 as it became a “candidates’ market” in some sectors. This meant the average response rate per role was at 1.14, down from 1.66 in 2021.

On a sub sector level the largest increase in roles experienced in 2022 was in banking and financial Services, which were up 106%. This was followed by opportunities in IT – Software Development (up 67%) and IT – Support Services (up 46%). Significant growth was also recorded in arts, entertainment and recreation (up 43%), education and training (up 31%) and professional services and practices (up 25%).

FRS Recruitment is also forecasting further growth in IT, construction and healthcare recruitment for the year ahead, describing these sectors as “relatively inelastic”.

The analysis is contained in FRS Recruitment’s ‘2022 Review and 2023 Trend Forecast’ Report.

Speaking about the report the General Manager with FRS Recruitment Lynne McCormack said: “We are confident that we will see further growth in recruitment opportunities in Laois for the year ahead. We experienced a positive year in Laois last year and our belief is that this will continue over the coming 12 months.

“Another trend we saw in Laois and across the economy last year was that the level of applications did not keep up with the number of openings. With the economy reaching a 20 year low for unemployment and nearing full employment, this impacted the market. For some high demand sectors it became a candidates’ market. This, coupled with the rising cost of living, meant significant pressure on salaries in some high demand sectors over 2022. With the economy likely to be less buoyant in the next year, we expect this pressure will diminish as candidates in Laois and nationally focus more on job security and work life balance considerations.”