The Irish economy recently hit full employment with unemployment levels falling below 5%. In fact, the level of unemployment fell to 4.4% in May (Source: Central Statistics Office). The seasonally adjusted unemployment figure for males stood at 4.7% and 4.2% for females. Youth unemployment (15-24 years) now stands at 10%.
What are the challenges of full employment?
One of the challenges of full employment is that it becomes extremely difficult to attract staff when there is a skills shortage in certain sectors and this in turn has a negative effect on continued economic growth.
One of the sectors with the biggest skills shortages is Ireland’s construction sector with many companies trying to attract construction workers back from Australia, the UK and Canada (especially in regards architects and design engineers).
The ICT sector is also finding great difficulty in finding candidates for numerous job openings. The Irish government is spending a huge amount of investment in regards ICT training and skills. Hopefully this investment will bear fruit in the near future and satisfy the huge appetite for ICT skills in the Irish economy.
