Job postings on Indeed Ireland were down 24% in early February compared with the same time last year, according to new research from the jobs website.
However, despite the ongoing lockdown, the figures show that listings continue to grow and have not returned to the low of -54% last June.
The study reveals growth right across Europe, with Poland recording the biggest recovery, up 10%, followed by Italy, up 7%.
The research shows that overall, Ireland’s recovery is currently faring better than that of the UK or Spain, but is behind the other five EU countries examined.
Sectoral impacts from Covid-19 have been very uneven, according to the study.
Only job postings in the areas of healthcare and manufacturing have exceeded their pre-pandemic baselines.
The sectors worst hit include food and beverage (-62%), customer and personal services (-45%) and construction (-36%).
Jack Kennedy, economist at Indeed, said the new research shows that the situation is improving for Ireland.
“A successful vaccine rollout could mean face-to-face service sectors like hospitality and food service could make a comeback later in the year.
“This would be of significant benefit in helping to limit the rise in unemployment as these sectors are labour-intensive.
“It would also benefit younger workers who have borne the brunt of the crisis, with the youth unemployment rate standing at 56% on the Covid-adjusted measure,” he said.
According to the research, the number of job postings mentioning remote work has increased from 3.6% to 13.4% over the past year.
Some occupations have seen particularly large jumps in the share of remote job postings.
The study also reveals that the highest prevalence of remote work is in arts and entertainment, tech, engineering and business roles.
Similarly, searches for remote work quadrupled over the same timeframe, with most of the uplift seen in periods of tight lockdown, with a big jump in spring 2020 and a further increase over the winter.
Article Source – Job postings continue to grow, still down 24% – Indeed Ireland – RTE – Gill Stedman