What job ads on buses tell us about employment in Ireland

Analysis: many job seekers see little point in chasing jobs that will still leave them in desperate economic circumstances

If you take a bus in Dublin, there are many things you might see from the top deck, but one thing anyone looking up will see is an advert on the side of the bus asking people to apply to become bus drivers. Similarly, if you've driven through Co Tipperary recently, there are many interesting sights, including a set of billboards advertising jobs at Abbott Laboratories.

For those of us who grew up with tight labour markets when jobs were few and far between, this change is striking. Ireland has gone from 'jobs wanted' to 'workers wanted'.

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At first, the explanation seems obvious. Many people left the job market during the pandemic (the so-called 'Great Resignation') and, when businesses began to gear back up, there was a need to replace those people who left.

But a closer look at employment data suggests that that things are not so simple. Many people did leave their jobs during and after the pandemic, but they often left for better jobs rather than leaving the workplace altogether. The Great Resignation is better thought of as a Great Reshuffle: many people moved away from jobs where the pay was bad, the working conditions were difficult or where management treated workers badly.

Even when their old jobs were acceptable, many people whose jobs were disrupted by the pandemic have moved on and are not available to come back to their old jobs. This created large labour shortfalls in occupations that were most heavily disrupted by the pandemic. For example, the travel and tourism industry was hit hard by the pandemic, and employers in this industry have found it increasingly difficult to fill positions.

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It is instructive to examine the strategies the Irish tourism industry have deployed to attract staff, such as higher pay, more flexible working hours and more predictability in working hours. This suggests that jobs in this sector prior to the pandemic often offered poor pay combined with inflexible and/or unpredictable schedules. If your boss needed you, you had to come to work; if your boss did not need you, you were out of luck. Perhaps it is no surprise that workers are not flocking back to this industry.

It is reasonable to expect that many other industries will find it difficult to staff open positions. For example, it is likely that you will continue to see signs on Dublin buses pleading for drivers for some time to come. The pay offered by these signs (€815 per week) seems reasonable until you consider the cost of living in Dublin. The average cost of living for a single person in Dublin without rent is over €1,000 per month, and if you throw rent in, it is over €3,300 per month.

This is representative of a problem that will continue to haunt employers: the costs of living are outpacing wages, even in jobs where salary increases are being offered. Many job seekers are reaching the point where they see little point in chasing jobs that will leave them in desperate economic circumstances, even if they secure full-time employment.

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More generally, the pandemic has led many employees to rethink their relationship with their employers. Employees who put up with bad pay, unpredictable hours or bad managers for years have had a chance to rethink their relationship with work, and some of them appear to have reached the conclusion that enough is enough. Job seekers have become more selective when considering their options, and some employers might find it very difficult to attract good candidates without making substantial changes in pay, benefits and the treatment of employees.

Like most economic crises, it is likely that in the end rich and powerful organisations will get richer and more powerful. For example, employers like Amazon have the resources to invest substantial amounts (over $1 billion in the US alone) to provide job seekers with to provide enhanced education and training, ranging from high school and college degrees to technical training ("become a software engineer in 9 months").

Ireland has gone from 'jobs wanted' to 'workers wanted'

These benefits will probably aid employers in winning the war for talent. Smaller employers will find it difficult to match these benefits, and employers who continue to operate under pre-Covid employment models may find themselves squeezed out of the job market. This tight job market could accelerate the trend toward consolidation, pushing smaller employers out of the Irish economy.

These are good times for job seekers, then, especially if they use the power the job market is giving them strategically. For example, some job seekers will have the choice between employers who offer higher wages versus employers who offer slightly lower pay combined with benefits that have long-term payoffs, such as enhanced training and education. The best choice will depend on the needs and preferences of individual job seekers, but they should certainly take advantage of this job market while it lasts.

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ

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