We regularly update this report to track the pandemic’s effects on the labour market. 

Irish job postings on Indeed remain elevated, with the trend remaining resilient to economic headwinds. Job postings — a real-time measure of labour market activity — were 55% above the 1 February, 2020, pre-pandemic baseline, seasonally adjusted, as of 14 October, 2022. 

A line graph titled “Job postings on Indeed, Ireland” showing the percentage change in job postings on Indeed Ireland since 01 Feb 2020, seasonally adjusted, to 14 October 2022.
A line graph titled “Job postings on Indeed, Ireland” showing the percentage change in job postings on Indeed Ireland since 01 Feb 2020, seasonally adjusted, to 14 October 2022. There was a 55% change in job postings on Indeed Ireland from 01 Feb 2020 to 14 October 2022.

Performance across categories varies widely

We continue to see considerable variation in the strength of job posting recoveries across occupational categories. Pharmacy, therapy, cleaning & sanitation and personal care & home health job postings are furthest above pre-pandemic levels. 

Legal and real estate have the weakest job posting recoveries, while software development is now among the laggards having seen a recent slowdown. 

Table titled “Some occupations are booming while others lag.”
Table titled “Some occupations are booming while others lag.” Indeed compared the percent change in Irish job postings, between 1 February, 2020, and 14 October 2022 across various sectors divided into sections “Better than economy average,” and “Worse than economy average.” The strongest performers were pharmacy and therapy, while the weakest performers were legal and real estate.

Tech slowdown

There has been a notable slowdown in tech hiring in recent months (reflecting global trends in the sector). Having reached over 70% above the pre-pandemic baseline in June, software development has slowed to just 16% above the baseline. The IT operations & helpdesk and information design & documentation categories have similarly lost momentum. 

A line graph titled “Tech categories have slowed” showing the percentage change in job postings on Indeed Ireland since 1 Feb 2020, seasonally adjusted, to 14 October 2022, for the three tech categories tracked by Indeed.
A line graph titled “Tech categories have slowed” showing the percentage change in job postings on Indeed Ireland since 1 Feb 2020, seasonally adjusted, to 14 October 2022, for the three tech categories tracked by Indeed. Software development, information design & documentation and IT operations & helpdesk have all slowed markedly from recent peaks. 

Dublin continues to underperform

Dublin’s job posting recovery continues to lag the rest of Ireland. Like many large urban areas, commuter footfall in Dublin remains down on pre-pandemic levels, weighing on local services that rely on their spending. The tech slowdown is also likely to have impacted more on the Dublin trend.  

A line graph titled “Dublin’s job posting recovery lags” showing a breakdown of the percentage change in job postings on Indeed Ireland since 1 Feb 2020, seasonally adjusted, to 14 October 2022, for Dublin versus the rest of Ireland.
A line graph titled “Dublin’s job posting recovery lags” showing a breakdown of the percentage change in job postings on Indeed Ireland since 1 Feb 2020, seasonally adjusted, to 14 October 2022, for Dublin versus the rest of Ireland. At 34% above the pre-pandemic baseline, Dublin continues to underperform the rest of Ireland (+90%).

We will continue to provide regular updates on these trends as the situation evolves. We also host the data behind the postings trends plots on Github as downloadable CSV files. Typically, the site will be updated with the latest data one day after the respective Hiring Lab tracker is published.

Methodology

All figures in this blogpost are the percentage change in seasonally-adjusted job postings since 1 February, 2020, using a seven-day trailing average. 1 February, 2020, is our pre-pandemic baseline. We seasonally adjust each series based on historical patterns in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Each series, including the national trend, occupational sectors, and sub-national geographies, is seasonally adjusted separately. We adopted this new methodology in January 2021. 

The number of job postings on Indeed.com, whether related to paid or unpaid job solicitations, is not indicative of potential revenue or earnings of Indeed, which comprises a significant percentage of the HR Technology segment of its parent company, Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. Job posting numbers are provided for information purposes only and should not be viewed as an indicator of performance of Indeed or Recruit. Please refer to the Recruit Holdings investor relations website and regulatory filings in Japan for more detailed information on revenue generation by Recruit’s HR Technology segment.