FÁS/ESRI Employment and Vacancies Survey: August 2005

September 22, 2005

22/09/2005

Embargo: 1:00 a.m. Thursday 22 September 2005

Key findings of the survey for the month of August 2005:

Overall the percentage of private sector firms reporting vacancies fell significantly with only 7 per cent of firms reporting vacancies in August compared to 19 per cent in July 2005;
The decline in economy wide vacancies was driven by a fall of 20 percentage points in the proportion of service sector firms reporting vacancies and a decrease of 4 percentage points in the proportion of industry sector firms reporting vacancies;
The percentage of service sector firms actively trying to fill vacancies fell to its lowest level, 5 per cent, for the period considered;
A somewhat larger percentage of employers in the private sector expect employment to fall over the coming months than the percentage who expect it to rise;
The services sector experienced a decline in employer expectations, with 5 per cent more employers anticipating a fall rather than a rise in employment levels;
Employers in the retail sector also feel that employment levels will decrease rather than increase over the coming months;
The construction sector experienced a fall in its Net Employment Expectations indicator but employers remain optimistic about future employment levels in their firms;
Industry sector employers are expecting no change in employment levels in their firms over the coming months;
In August the most frequently reported difficult-to-fill vacancies in each sector were: