We regularly update this report to track the performance of the labour market. 

Irish job postings on Indeed remain elevated. Job postings — a real-time measure of labour market activity — were 67% above the 1 February, 2020, pre-pandemic baseline, seasonally adjusted, as of 9 December, 2022. That’s down a touch from 70% at the end of November but still above the previous peak of 65% seen back in February. Job postings continue to show resilience to economic headwinds amid high inflation and cost of living pressures, with many employers still experiencing staffing gaps. 

A line graph titled “Job postings on Indeed, Ireland” showing the percentage change in job postings on Indeed Ireland since 1 February 2020, seasonally adjusted, to 9 December 2022.
A line graph titled “Job postings on Indeed, Ireland” showing the percentage change in job postings on Indeed Ireland since 1 February 2020, seasonally adjusted, to 9 December 2022. There was a 64% change in job postings on Indeed Ireland from 1 February 2020 to 9 December 2022.

Varying sectoral performance

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

Chemical engineering is the only category below the pre-pandemic baseline. Two tech categories, software development and IT operations & helpdesk, are now among the laggards having seen recent slowdowns, along with the legal category. 

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 9 December 2022 across various sectors divided into sections “Better than economy average,” and “Worse than economy average.” The strongest performers were cleaning & sanitation and therapy, while the weakest performers were chemical engineering and IT operations & helpdesk.

Dublin continues to lag the rest of Ireland

Even though job postings are 39% above the pre-pandemic baseline, Dublin’s job posting recovery continues to lag the rest of Ireland. The latter has seen an acceleration in job posting growth in recent weeks taking it to 114% above the pre-pandemic baseline. 

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 February 2020, seasonally adjusted, to 9 December 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 February 2020, seasonally adjusted, to 9 December 2022, for Dublin versus the rest of Ireland. At 39% above the pre-pandemic baseline, Dublin continues to underperform the rest of Ireland (+114%).

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.