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Key findings from the Vacancy Overview 2015

The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs published its Vacancy Overview 2015 report on 6th May 2016. The purpose of the report is to identify where vacancies are occurring, the nature of the vacancies (whether due to sectoral expansion, replacement or churn), and the level of experience and education required for these vacant positions. The latest edition of this annual series outlines the areas where job vacancies arose during 2015.

Some of the key findings of the report are set out below.

  • Construction: This is a sector that is showing considerable signs of growth, particularly in the area of skilled trades such as electricians and carpenters, but with vacancies also in professional roles such as quantity surveyors and project managers.
  • Information and communications: The overall employment growth in this sector in recent years has been steady, with demand particularly for young, high skilled persons. Difficult to fill roles in 2015 included software developers, network engineers, systems architects, data analysts, information security analysts, tech support with languages, and project managers.
  • Financial, insurance and real estate: Difficult to fill areas included financial accountants, fund accounting supervisory roles, regulatory & compliance skills, deposit and treasury management roles, risk analysts and actuaries, and financial clerks (credit control, accounts payable and debt recovery, often with a foreign language requirement).
  • Health and social work: A high level of openings arose in 2015 through replacement demand. Difficult to fill vacancies included professional roles such as doctors, nurses, radiographers, specialist technicians and care workers.
  • Professional, scientific and technical activities: Difficulty in sourcing suitably qualified persons for this sector has been identified in a small number of niche areas including accountants – in corporate finance (audit, financial restructuring, and solvency), taxation and experienced regulatory and compliance professionals.
  • Wholesale and Retail: There is little indication of difficulty in sourcing candidates in this sector, with the retention of staff presenting a greater issue.
  • Accommodation and Food services: This sector has experienced considerable churn, primarily for elementary occupations, taken up mainly by young cohorts with less than Third Level education. Vacancies for chefs have been occurring frequently.
  • Transportation and storage: Difficulty in sourcing HGV drivers and mechanics was identified.
  • Administrative and support services: the main area of demand in this sector relates to Contact Centre roles with language skills (e.g. German, Nordic, Dutch).

The full report is available here