Newspaper recruitment ads up 84% in January

OVER 19,000 recruitment advertisements were placed in national daily and Sunday newspapers in January, an 84% increase on the previous month.

This is down 6% on January 2005, but still represents a very positive start to the recruitment year, said survey producers Bank of Ireland Business Banking.

The figures include jobs advertised for the Republic only and are based on a count of all job advertisements in the Irish Examiner, The Sunday Business Post, The Irish Times, Sunday Tribune, Irish Independent and Sunday Independent.

Last month's figures are the third highest for recruitment advertisements placed since September 2004 and indicate the recruitment boom is set to continue into 2006, said the bank.

The financial sector was up 66% on January 2005.

It suggests the start of a recovery in this sector, following a decline in demand in November and December, according to the survey.

Manufacturing showed new life, pushing recruitment up 26%.

Education continued its positive trend achieving its sixth consecutive monthly increase in January.

Some sectors disappointed, said the bank. Healthcare, the hi-tech and leisure sectors showed losses of 20% or more with some indicating a decline, such as the IT end of the economy.

Recruitment remained strong in the regions.

In Galway, advertising for labour was 65% ahead of December 2005, Cork was up 62%, Limerick 54% and Waterford 38%.

BoI Business Banking director Cathal Muckian said Irish manufacturing's boost points to stronger orders from overseas.

That upturn accords with a recent survey of 1,500 firms that showed 62% or respondents were forecasting a better 2006.