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Whether you’re a job-seeker looking for the perfect position, an employer seeking the best talent, or a recruitment professional who’s job it is to bring the two together, keeping yourself abreast of current and future trends in the Irish labour market is an important element of the recruitment process.

In March the Irish employment and training agency FÁS and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) published their 13th annual joint report in the manpower forecasting series: "Occupational Employment Forecasts 2015", including full medium-term forecasts of the sectoral and occupational structure of the Irish labour market.

Here’s a summary of the key changes they predict in Ireland’s labour market between now and 2015:

• Changes are likely in the sectoral and skills mix of employment. While employment in most occupations is expected to recover from the lows of 2010, the rate and extent of recovery will vary considerably by occupation, with some emerging from the recession to show relatively strong employment growth, while others fail to attain their pre-recession levels before 2015.

• The occupations expected to exceed pre-recession peak levels are concentrated at the higher end of the skill scale, and include professionals and associate professionals (technicians) in science, engineering, business services and IT. Some of the occupations that, while they will they will grow after 2010, are not expected to hit their peak pre-recession levels include skilled building workers, production operatives, unskilled manual workers, sales assistants and clerks.

• Combined managers/proprietors, professionals and associate professionals are expected to account for 38% of the total workforce in 2015 compared to 34% in 2008 (and 31% in 1996). When these groups are combined with clerical workers, the forecasts suggest that, in 2015, 50% of workers will be in what are traditionally considsered "white collar" roles (up from 44% in 1996).

• Overall employment level is based on the ESRI’s latest forecasts for recovery, which projects that employment in 2015 will be some 80,000 below the peak level reached in 2008. However, given an estimated loss of 330,000 jobs between the 2008 peak and 2010, the projection suggests that the economic recovery, which is expected to begin towards the end of 2010, will generate 250,000 additional jobs between now and 2015.

• The number of females in employment is expected to exceed its pre-recession level by 2015, while male employment, although growing beyond 2010, is not expected to recover to the pre-recession level by 2015. Females are gaining share in many occupations, especially high skilled ones. By 2015, females are expected to account for more than a half of business services professionals and almost a half of all managers.

• Improvements in the educational profile are likely to continue during the forecasting period, with the share of third level graduates increasing in all occupations. By 2015, over 90% of all professionals are expected to hold a third level qualification.

While the report, and the underlying the projections on which its forecasts are based, has been produced, has been produced during a time of unprecedented economic uncertainty, and by necessity is underpinned by a number of assumptions concerning things like the rate of international economic recovery, overall Irish competitiveness, restoration of the financial sector, nominal wage rates and migratory flows, the authors are nonetheless confident that the direction of the skills/occupational changes projected is likely to reflect the reality that unfolds.

“I’ve been working consistently since I was 17,” said Niall, “so being suddenly out of work with a family to support was a bit of a shock to the system.”

While searching for work himself, Niall realised there was no dedicated Irish website offering unemployed people the opportunity to promote themselves to nationwide employers free of charge.

Showmycv.ie offers a platform where people who are looking for work can get their CV in front of the right people people at no cost, and a pool of readily available candidates for potential employers. Candidates can log in to the site to update their details at any time, and reply to messages from prospective employers.

"At the end of the day,people out of work need to feel as if there doing something positive in their search for a job, and i felt there was a need for all employers to view all job-seekers CVs for free," commented Niall. "I believe that showmycv.ie can help countless people hit by the recession and make a positive move in getting Ireland back working."

Institutions have been inundated with requests for courses, receiving on average around twice as many applications as there are places available. The demand, thought to be driven by a lack of alternative options in today’s workplace, has been described as unprecedented.

Demand in the PLC sector is also being boosted by an influx of disappointed third-level applicants who didn’t receive an offer of a college place through the the over-subscribed CAO system this year, which also fielded a record number of applications.

In all there were 78,982 applications to the CAO this year, an increase of 7.5% on 2008, and as of last week a total of 44,481 places had been accepted. Further education colleges report that they have processed 60,000 applications for the 31,688 PLC places they have available with a number of colleges reporting a significant rise in the number of applications from mature students, echoing the increasing number of job losses.

"I strongly welcome the establishment of Dublin Aerospace Ltd which continues the long-standing tradition of excellent international aviation maintenance service at Dublin Airport. Not only will this announcement lead to the creation of 226 new jobs but it also strengthens this high-skilled industry in Ireland," said Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan T.D., announcing the launch.

"Over the past number of decades, the aviation maintenance industry in Ireland has established a strong international reputation for service, quality, flexibility and responsiveness. Dublin Aerospace can build on that reputation and ensure the further development of an Irish sector already known for its high level of skills and expertise," she added.

"We are delighted to be able to announce the launch of Dublin Aerospace and are proud to be an Irish enterprise with world-class international aviation partners. We have assembled a high quality management team, all of whom have significant aviation experience and have successfully closed all our funding in spite of the current difficult funding environment," said Conor Mc Carthy, Executive Director of Dublin Aerospace.

"With our experienced management team and a strong innovative and customer-focussed approach, we look forward to building a profitable, competitive and high quality presence in the global aviation maintenance sector."

The Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment figures show that 54,887 people have lost their jobs so far this year compared with 23,402 during the same period in 2008. That’s an increase of 134.5% year-on-year. The services industry accounted for 18,974 of those redundancies, or 35% of the total jobs lost, followed by construction with 13,942 job losses (25%), and manufacturing with 10,510 job losses (19%). Dublin, with 40% of redundancies, was top in terms of the geographical distribution of jobs lost, followed by Cork, Limerick, Galway and Kildare. Around 68% of people who lost their jobs were men.

Unemployment figures released on the same day showed the total number of people signing on rose again in August to 440,056, or 12.4% of the Irish workforce.

Image by iamPatrick via Flickr

Around 150 jobs have been lost with the closure of seven 4-Home DIY and homeware stores around the country. The retail chain closed their outlets in Killarney and Ballincollig last week, on the back of earlier closure in Portlaoise, Carlow, Monaghan, Ashbourne and Macroom.

There are also fears for the future of outlets in Fermoy and Mitchelstown as Reox Holdings, a Dairygold Co-op spin-off company, implements a major restructuring plan. Talks between Reox and Dairygold about the possible acquisition of some of the nine remaining 4-Home stores in Munster by the Co-op are ongoing.

Earlier this year Reox announced that it was reviewing the performance of each of its stores as a result of a significant downturn in the sector. According to a company spokesman the recession had caused consumer confidence to plummet and they were spending less on home improvement products. Central Statistics Office figures bear out that statement, showing a huge drop in home-related sales over the past year.

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The latest figures show that more Irish firms closed their doors in July than in any month so far this year. 151 firms became insolvent in July, a 33% increase on the figure for June and a surge of 132% on the same month last year. The construction sector, once again, was the worst hit by the insolvency spike — with reports suggesting a correlation with the traditional "builders holiday", and struggling firms choosing to avail of this traditionally quiet period to wind up their operations "under the radar".

The motor trade was also badly hit — with a 200% increase in insolvencies compared to June, and according to the insolvency news aggregator InsolvencyJournal.ie the numbers of Irish firms going out of business shows no sign of abating.

Retail insolvencies in July were up almost 50% in July, increasing sharply from a figure of 21 in June and almost triple the 11 insolvencies recorded in the sector during May. 131 retail companies have already gone out of business so far this year. In the hospitality sector insolvencies remained relatively consistent at 14, compared to 13 in June and 15 in May.

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In general third level graduates are doing better than average in a very tough jobs market, says a study by the University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG), but the survey also shows significant variation between degree disciplines. With national unemployment rates approaching 12%, the University revealed that only 8% of the 2,300 or so graduates from the NUIG’s class of 2008 were still looking for work.

The University carried out the research from six to nine months after graduation, and had a healthy response rate of 62%. Over half of those respondents (c. 51%) had elected to pursue a postgraduate qualification, up from 49% last year and continuing a steadily rising trend. Of those available for work, one in every six NUIG science graduates (c. 16.5%)  was still trying to find a job, while for arts graduates the figure was one in 10 (10%), and a quarter of all law graduates were still looking for a position, although the vast majority of law graduates reported they had opted to further their studies.

Graduates most likely to be working were those with degrees in medicine and other health related disciplines, with 95% of respondents reporting they had secured employment.