Number of foreign direct investment jobs available doubles in five years

The number of jobs available in foreign direct investment (FDI) sectors has doubled over five years, reflecting the continued recovery in certain sectors of the economy.

There has been a steady increase in the number of vacancies with overseas companies based here since 2011, with twice as many available in the opening quarter of 2016 compared to the same three-month period five years ago.

Since 2013, the science, engineering, and supply chain segment has seen particularly strong growth, with the number of available jobs posted growing fourfold since 2011.

Trinity College Assistant Professor of Economics Ronan Lyons said the data contained in the CPL employment monitor showed the strong rebound in some sectors since the economic crash but warned that the pace of growth has slowed somewhat in recent times.

“The latest figures show the number of jobs posted in four key sectors of the economy entering a fifth year of growth,” he said.

“Nonetheless, this growth was more muted in early 2016. It will be interesting to see in future reports whether this reflects one-off considerations or a longer term trend.”

In Q1 2016, there were 2,564 jobs posted in the four sectors included in the report: IT and telecoms; science, engineering, and supply chain; sales and marketing; and accountancy, finance, and banking.

The report also found a high level of inertia among companies in relation to monitoring their online reputation, with a third paying it no attention at all.