THE ECONOMY IN Ireland is very much on the up, with economic growth here currently three times the EU average.
Manufacturing here meanwhile recently marked its 31st straight month of growth.
If proof were needed then that, from a jobs and unemployment point of view, things are very definitely looking up, a just-released Irish salary and benefits survey for 2016 authored by recruitment consultants Morgan McKinley has predicted some very happy news for workers across the country.
Morgan McKinley specialise in the areas of finance, IT, human resources, engineering, science, marketing, and language-based employment.
Highest paid
According to the guide the top five highest-earning positions in Ireland in 2015 in those categories were:
The results arrived at in the guide were gleaned from a study of 40,000 separate employment placements across the country.
The guide also details what kind of salary graduates in these disciplines can expect, together with the average salaries seen in those employment branches by location across the country.
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Salary increases in 2016 are expected to be in the rage of 10%, rising to 15-20% for specialist positions in sectors where employers are seeing skills shortages, including IT, accountancy, science, and engineering.
Despite the robust nature of the job market here at present, the compilers of the guide have warned employers against excessive salary hikes.
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“We are anticipating on average a 10% increase in salary levels this year and would caution restraint in this area,” said Karen O’Flaherty, Chief Operations Officer with Morgan McKinley.
Inward investment is dependent on the ability to attract top talent and to be cost competitive.
As can be seen in the above graph, salaries in most disciplines are fundamentally higher in Dublin than in the rest of the country, with IT coming the closest to bridging the geographical salary gap.
However, in areas where the demand for talent is high the traditional disparity between salaries in Dublin and elsewhere in the country is not as evident as you might expect.
This is particularly the case in the areas of life science, pharmaceutical, engineering and IT it seems.
The general trend expected for 2016 and going forward is that “candidates with strong technical skills across all disciplines” are becoming the norm as “technology infiltrates all sectors”, according to O’Flaherty.
Gender gap
The gender gap is also becoming a thing of the past, at least in levels of take-up in areas traditionally dominated by one gender or the other.
In human resources for example, an area traditionally dominated by women, more males are entering the profession, while in life sciences and engineering “more females are qualifying and securing roles”.
The continued return of large numbers of expatriates is also expected for 2016, particularly from Canada, Australia and the United Arab Emirates, especially “professionals with young families” who return “more confident of securing employment”.
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