Slowdown in Irish labour market described as ‘striking’ as tech jobs fall by 3,400

The slowdown in the Irish labour market has been described as “striking” in the wake of fresh figures pointing to slower annual jobs growth in September.

The Central Statistics Office’s latest payrolls data, which uses real-time Revenue data to pinpoint trends in the labour market, showed a fresh deceleration in the annual rate of employee jobs growth, which now stands at 2 per cent on a non-adjusted basis, down from 2.6 per cent in August.

The CSO said six sectors saw monthly decreases in the numbers employed in September while eight increased and one had no change. The largest monthly fall was in the construction sector (-0.6 per cent), while the largest monthly rise was in public administration and defence (+1.7 per cent).

The information and communication technology sector experienced one of the sharpest turnarounds, with jobs growth swinging from 8 per cent year-on-year in December last year to -2.7 per cent in September, leaving it as the weakest sector in these latest figures.

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The number of tech sector employees is down 3,400 over the 12 months to September, reflecting the spate of tech job-loss announcements seen over the last 12 months.

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“The annual pace of jobs growth has now slowed in nine out the past 10 months – a slowdown that has resulted in the rate of job-creation declining to just one-third of the 6 per cent pace registered at the end of last year, and some way slower than the 3.5 per cent rate of increase prevailing just before the pandemic struck,” said economist Simon Barry.

“While a moderation in the pace of increase was always fully inevitable as the post-pandemic snap-back effect faded, the extent of the slowdown this year is striking, as is its broad-based nature, with 13 out of the 15 sectors for which figures are presented recording slower annual jobs growth in September relative to last December,” Mr Barry added.

“Overall, an unemployment rate of 4.5 per cent is still really low, and growth in employee employment of 2 per cent is still healthy. Nonetheless, with unemployment now ticking higher amid a notable slowdown in the pace of job-creation, it does appear that the Irish labour market is at an important inflection point,” Mr Barry said.

The CSO figures come after separate figures showed earlier this month that headline unemployment in the Irish economy rose for a third consecutive month in October, suggesting the labour market was softening in the face of a slowdown in demand internationally. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for October was 4.8 per cent, according to the CSO data, up from 4.7 per cent in September, 4.5 per cent in August and 4.4 per cent in July. The 4.8 per cent rate for October corresponded to 132,800 individuals.