FÁS/ESRI EMPLOYMENT AND VACANCIES SURVEY: December 2006
11/01/2007
Key findings of the survey for the month of December 2006:
- Economy-wide vacancies remained stable with 13 percent of firms reporting vacancies across all sectors;
- Following an increase in November, the percentage of construction sector firms reporting vacancies decreased by six percentage points to nine per cent;
- The industry sector experienced a two percentage decline in vacancies to 17 per cent, while vacancies in the retail sector fell by three percentage points to one per cent;
- The services sector was the only sector surveyed that experienced an increase in vacancies: vacancies increased by three percentage point to 19 per cent;
- For the first time since June 2006 the Net Employment Expectations indicator for all sectors was positive: the indicator increased to four per cent from minus one per cent in November implying that the percentage of employers predicting a rise in employment levels in their firms over the coming months was four percentage points higher than those expecting a decrease;
- The Net Employment Expectations indicator for the construction sector remained unchanged at minus 12 per cent, which means the percentage of employers expecting a decline in future employment levels was 12 percentage points higher than those expecting a rise;
- The employment expectations of industry sector employers fell to their lowest level since January 2006: the Net Employment Expectations indicator for the sector fell by five percentage points to minus nine per cent;
- Retail employers employment expectations improved significantly but remained negative at minus one per cent;
- The services sector was the only sector surveyed that reported positive employment expectations: the Net Employment Expectations indicator for the sector increased by six percentage points to ten per cent;
- The most frequently reported difficult-to-fill vacancies in each sector were:
Construction - Quantity surveyors and electrical estimators Industry - Managers, sales staff, and engineers Retail - Sales personnel Services - Drivers, sales staff and chefs
For further information contact Elish Kelly or Philip O’Connell (ESRI) at 01-8632000 or John McGrath, FÁS at 01-6077431.
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