The tech sector is reporting the strongest appetite for hiring growth over the coming months, according to new research.
The latest ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey shows that 55% of tech firms that are increasing headcount reported business growth as their primary driver for hiring, with 28% reporting they needed new staff due to changing skills needs.
Overall, a quarter of Irish businesses plan to increase headcount in the coming months meaning that Ireland's national net employment outlook for the second quarter of the year remains unchanged on the last quarter.
The survey is based on responses from 420 employers across Ireland and asks whether they intend to hire additional workers or reduce the size of their workforce in the coming quarter.
Among employers increasing headcount, 38% report organisational growth as the primary driver, with 31% reporting backfilling vacancies, and 28% listing changing skills needs as the primary driver.
"The tech sector is reporting an appetite for growth like no other," said Jonny Edgar, Managing Director, ManpowerGroup Ireland.
"Following the post-pandemic scramble for talent which resulted in over-hiring and a long stretch of hiring freezes, the sector has now stabilised in a strong position to grow sustainably," he said.
"We've seen sharp increase in appetite for candidates with AI skills, alongside continued demand for cybersecurity, cloud, and data specialists," Mr Edgar said.
A talent shortage report from ManpowerGroup report found that 78% of information technology businesses and 82% of employers in the industrials and materials sector found difficulty finding candidates with the skills they were looking for.
Employers across Ireland reported that IT and data skills were the hardest to find, followed by operations and logistics, and engineering skills.
