New data from employment platform IrishJobs indicates that constructions workers were among the most in-demand professions this year.
This comes as the sector faces a growing skills shortage.
IrishJobs’ findings revealed that site managers were the most sought-after profession by employers in 2024, with demand growing 39 percent year-on-year.
Meanwhile, site engineers occupied third place, demand for those workers having increased by 15 percent year-on-year, with project managers the fourth most popular, demand for them having grown by 10 percent year-on-year.
Aside from construction, accountants (2), nurses (5) and financial accountants (8) had places in the top ten most in-demand professions.
Quantity surveyors (6), engineers (7), and senior site engineers (10) all feature in the top ten, while electricians (9) appear in the top ten list for the first time.
IrishJobs data on the most frequently posted job openings by employers in 2024 also provided insights into sectoral trends in job demand, with indications that the “AI transformation” is resulting in rising demand for skilled specialists in AI technology.
In the IT sector, automation engineer is the most in-demand job for 2024, while data scientist is the most in-demand job in the science industry.
Risk managers were the most in-demand jobs in the banking sector, while quality control analysts topped the list for the manufacturing sector.
Commenting on the findings, Country Director of the Stepstone Group Ireland with responsibility for IrishJobs, Sam Dooley said that “against a backdrop of near record low levels of unemployment, businesses in Ireland continue to navigate an exceptionally tight labour market that presents challenges in attracting and retaining high calibre talent”.
“The significant growth in demand for professionals in construction and related sectors clearly reflects the size of the challenge facing these sectors in meeting their talent needs. As pressures grow to further ramp up construction activity to meet Ireland’s ambitious housing targets, the need for more skilled talent in the sector is only likely to accelerate,” Mr Dooley said.
The insights are based on data from the IrishJobs TalentBank, the hiring platform’s CV database of over 1.4 million job candidates, an analysis of TalentBank searches by recruiters and employers over the past year revealing the most in-demand professions.