Recruiters say employers are taking longer to fill permanent positions
Irish employers pulled back from hiring permanent staff in July, with recruiters instead reporting a rise in the demand for temporary workers.
A third of recruitment firms (33pc) said the number of permanent vacancies fell, compared with the previous month, while 28pc reported an increase, according to the latest Irish labour monthly monitor from the Employment and Recruitment Federation (ERF).
This was a turnaround from the previous survey, when 35pc of recruiters had reported an increase in permanent vacancies.
Temporary hiring moved in the opposite direction, with 32pc of recruiters reporting an increase in temporary vacancies during July and 18pc recording a fall.
Contract hiring was more stable, with 29pc reporting an increase in vacancies and 27pc seeing a decrease.
The monthly monitor from the ERF measures hiring activity and sentiment among recruitment and talent professionals each month.
Employers are also continuing to take longer to fill permanent positions. According to the monitor, 57pc of recruiters said permanent roles were taking longer to fill than they were three months ago, although this was down from 63pc in the previous survey. Just 6pc said permanent positions were being filled more quickly.
For contract jobs, 27pc of recruiters reported longer hiring times, while 63pc said there had been no change.
Pay levels were also largely unchanged during July. Almost three-quarters of recruiters (72pc) said salaries and rates of pay for permanent jobs remained steady. A further 20pc reported an increase in permanent pay, while 8pc said it had fallen.
Pay was also stable for other types of work, with 82pc reporting no change in contract rates and 86pc seeing no change in temporary rates.
Recruiters have become more positive about hiring over the coming months. Almost half (49pc) expect the number of vacancies to increase over the next three months, while just 4pc expect them to fall.
This compares with 35pc of recruiters in the previous survey who expected the number of vacancies to increase.
According to the monitor, 31pc expect the number of qualified candidates available to employers to rise, while 14pc expect a decrease.
Siobhán Kinsella, president of the ERF, said employers were increasingly looking for flexibility when hiring in July.
“The signal in this month’s data is a market that wants the work done without taking on the long-term commitment. For the first time in recent months, more recruiters saw permanent vacancies fall than rise, while temporary demand strengthened.
“Employers are not walking away from hiring. They are choosing flexibility while they wait for a clearer view of the next 12 months,” she said.