A new report from the ESRI has found that there was a significant decrease in job vacancies last month.
The downturn was driven particularly by a decline in the construction sector - which reported its lowest vacancy rate in more than five years. Construction employers also predicted a 10% decline in employment levels in the sector.
Overall 12% of firms in the private sector reported vacancies in August this year, compared with 17% in July.
Reported vacancies in the building sector fell by five percentage points, to 5%, the lowest the vacancy rate has been since the survey began in May 2002. There was also an 8-point decline in reported vacancies in the services sector - which included IT - to 17%.
Reported vacancies in the industrial sector increased by four percentage points to 17%, while in retail the figure remains unchanged at 2%.
Overall employers are also less optimistic about their future employment needs. Expectations for future employment in all sectors fell slightly to minus 3% - and more employers expected a fall in employment over the coming months than an increase.
