Bank of Ireland Job Index Reports Three Year High in Recruitment Demand

- Just over 8,000 jobs advertisements recorded in Galway, Limerick, Cork and Waterford in November

Just under 199,000 recruitment advertisements have been placed in the national daily and Sunday newspapers to date this year, according to Bank of Ireland Business Banking's job index. This represents a 10% increase over the same period in 2003 and a 2% increase over the same period last year.

The strong pace of recruitment has been driven by month on month increases across a number of sectors. This trend was buoyed by recruitment in November when 16,129 recruitment advertisements were recorded, driven mainly by increases in the educational (+19%), leisure (+17%), professional (+13%) and construction (+1%) sectors. The retail sector also performed strongly and the demand for retail staff is still high with 2,479 job advertisements recorded. This can be attributed directly to retailers increasing staff numbers to cater for the busy Christmas period, when it is expected that consumer spending will exceed €4 billion.

Despite the strong pace of recruitment, there has been some sectoral decline compared to the corresponding month last year. The most significant fall was in the IT/Tech sector (-42%) which gave up some of the strong gains, which were made last month. The financial (-18%) and healthcare (-15%) sectors also declined over the last month while the manufacturing sector fell (-10%) reflecting weak overall sentiment for the sector.

The strong demand for labour at a national level is also reflected in demand in the key urban centres of Galway, Cork, Limerick and Waterford, where 8,193 recruitment advertisements were recorded in November. The demand for labour in November was buoyed by recruitment in Cork with 6,049 job adverts placed, an 18% increase over October this year. On a sectoral basis, demand for labour is highest in the leisure, retail and professional sectors in each of the urban centres.

Commenting on the findings of the November Job Index, Cathal Muckian, Director, Business Banking, Bank of Ireland said: "The strong demand for labour evident in the Job index is in line with an independent survey of Irish SME's conducted by MORI on behalf of Bank of Ireland and completed in September '05. Of the 1,400 businesses surveyed, 37% indicated that they intend to take on additional employees, suggesting that the high demand for labour is set to continue well into the New Year. This is supported by the recent NCB Purchasing Manager's Index, which showed an increase in activity levels in the services sector, with most firms reporting that they are experiencing a backlog of work.

"Consumer confidence remains high, new business growth is strong nationally. Furthermore, the recently issued Bank of Ireland's Business Start-up Barometer showed that in the first eleven months of this year just over 15,600 new companies were established, and the total number for the year is expected to reach 20,000. Nationally, it is evident that the demand for labour is being driven by the professional, retail, construction and leisure sectors. This trend is reflected on a regional level in Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford. Our business bankers are also seeing strong demand from these sectors on the ground, with growth set to continue in the future."

Dr. Dan McLaughlin, Chief Economist Bank of Ireland Group, said:
"Employment growth has surprised to the upside in 2005, with over 96,000 jobs created in the year to the third quarter, a gain of over 5%. The Job index has broadly mirrored this employment pattern, and the trend in recent months remains positive, albeit showing a modest deceleration in the pace of annual growth, to 2.4% in the three months to November."

Ends

For reference:

Anne Mathews
Media Relations Manager
Bank of Ireland Group
Tel: 01 6043836 / 087 2460358

Note to Editors:

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