51% would move overseas if jobless

MORE than half of Irish people surveyed would emigrate if they lost their job – well below the level in other countries.

In France 80% would move away if they became redundant while in Germany 75% said they would. In China just 35% said they would emigrate if they lost their job.

A survey by recruitment firm Berkley among job seekers also found that 56% of Irish people would return to education in such a scenario, which is by far the highest percentage among the nine countries in the survey.

Just more than 18% of Irish people said they could survive more than 12 months on their savings if they were let go. This compares with 19% in Britain, 33% in Germany and 52% in China.

Almost two out of three Irish job seekers feel the global downturn is over the worst or near the end.

In the global league of countries surveyed Ireland sentiment is lagging a high of 91% of people in Switzerland, 87% in Australia, and 85% in Singapore. Only the US is in line with the Irish sentiment.

Irish optimism and pessimism for the jobs market in 2010 ranks at the lower ends of the global league. While improving from previous quarters, it does lag the global average.

Managing director of Berkley Recruitment, Fergal Brosnan said: Following from a great end to 2009, 2010 has started at the same pace. At Berkley, our Q4 was the best in 2009, in fact was almost double that of previous quarters. The number of vacancies in January 2010 is four times that of January 2009.”

One in five people expect a pay rise this year of between 1-4% while almost one in ten are expecting a pay cut.

This compares with the near 50% in Germany that are expecting a pay hike of up to 4%.

Half of job seekers are also more worried about job security than they were 12 months ago.

The jobs market has also been described as weak by four out of five respondents in Ireland.

Two thirds of companies surveyed in Ireland have let people go due to the economic climate which is similar to the US.

Mr Brosnan said the survey in an Irish context is “very positive”.

“When comparing to Q1 in 2009, there is a sizeable improvement in where people feel we are in the global downturn and where sentiment stands in terms of the jobs market.”