FÁS/ESRI Employment and Vacancies Survey: December 2005

January 12, 2006

12/01/2006

Embargo: 1:00 a.m. Thursday 12th January 2006 Key findings of the survey for the month of December 2005:

Economy wide vacancies decreased with 16 per cent of firms indicating that they had vacancies compared to 19 per cent in November;
The proportion of service sector firms reporting vacancies fell a significant 9 percentage points to 18 per cent;
The percentage of retail firms reporting vacancies reached its second highest level since June 2004 as 7 per cent of firms in the sector reported vacancies;
Overall private sector employment is expected to fall over the coming months;
The Net Employment Expectations indicator for the construction sector reached its lowest level in over a year (1 per cent) but employers remained optimistic, on balance, about future employment in the sector;
Employer sentiment in the services sector reached its most pessimistic level in over a year with 9 per cent more employers feeling employment levels would fall rather than rise over the coming months;
The industrial sector experienced a significant deterioration in employer sentiment as the Net Employment Expectations indicator for the sector reached its lowest level (minus 9 per cent) this year;
Employers in the retail sector remained pessimistic about future employment levels in their firms;
The most frequently reported difficult-to-fill vacancies in each sector were:
- Construction: Quantity surveyors and site managers
- Industry: Engineers, managers and sales personnel
- Retail: Sales personnel
- Services: Architects and supervisors