Professionals seeking jobs suffer one of bleakest years as vacancies plunge

IRISH professionals seeking jobs have suffered one of the bleakest years on record, with a 72% drop in new job opportunities this June compared to the year before.

The level of new professional job vacancies fell 11% between May and June this year — marking a new low point for 2009.

The results are based on the findings of the Premier Group Irish Employment Monitor, which records the health of the Irish jobs sector on a monthly basis.

Premier Group managing director, Brian Murphy, said: “It’s evident that jobseekers in Ireland are facing one of the toughest periods for employment in many years.”

The level of Irish professionals beginning a new job search increased marginally, by 6%, between May and June this year, due to a proportional increase in redundancy announcements.

“The recruitment market is so delicate that it’s impossible to make any solid forecasts other than that the next few months are unlikely to get any easier,” Mr Murphy added.

Figures for June signalled the end of a three-month consecutive run of minor jobs growth and represented a 47% decrease in new job seekers compared to June 2008.

Mr Murphy highlighted the levelling out of the rate of decline in job numbers during the first half of 2009 as the most positive aspect of the results. This follows a dramatic decline from month to month during the second half of 2008.

“The rate of decline may have stopped but we’re still at a lower level than we have been in many years,” said Mr Murphy.

He expected a small jobs spike in September due to seasonal factors but said most firms would postpone any further recruitment plans until the economic climate improved.

“We’re entering the typically slow summer season now, which is likely to prompt more volatility to the flow of new jobs coming onto the market,” he added.