Growing skills shortage revealed in new report

There is evidence of a growing skills shortage in a new report.

The latest Morgan McKinley employment monitor shows a surge in professional jobs becoming available in the last six months.

Since June, there has been a rise of 24%. In November, there was a 33% rise over the same month in 2013.

A majority of professional vacancies are available in the ICT, energy and utilities sectors.

Morgan McKinley Ireland's chief operations officer Karen O'Flaherty said it was important to meet demand.

"There is a widening gap with the skills availablity to meet demand," she said. "We have seen a fall in professional jobseekers as the gap widens between the number of jobs released and the numbers of professional available to fill those jobs.

"That is an area of concern even though it bodes well for the employment sector."