Pay hikes of up to 20% for specialist sectors with skills shortages

One of the country’s largest recruitment consultancies has predicted average salary hikes for the Irish workforce of around 10% — at least double what is even being sought by the trade union movement.

Morgan McKinley has said the increases could be as much as 20% for specialist positions in sectors where there are skill shortages.

The likely sectors are the life sciences, information technology, accounting and finance, science and engineering.