One in five (19%) Irish job postings on the professional networking platform LinkedIn in December offered the option of remote work, up from 1 in 7 job postings last quarter. This represents a 118% year-on-year increase in the availability of flexible work roles, placing Ireland second highest for the availability of remote roles across eight markets monitored including France, Spain, and the Netherlands.

The report based on a study by IDA Ireland, in partnership with Microsoft and LinkedIn, also recorded a continued labour market recovery in the final quarter of last year. Hiring rates in the final two months of 2021 were on average 22% higher than the same period in 2019, despite the heightened level of restrictions that were in place last December. 

The latest LinkedIn Hiring Rate has shown that this momentum has continued into 2022, with hiring rates in January on average 28% higher than in the same month in 2019.

IDA Ireland CEO Martin Shanahan said, “I welcome the data which shows an increase in remote working opportunities allowing employers to tap into the talent base across all regions of Ireland.”

While Covid-adjusted unemployment increased in December as new restrictions were introduced in response to Covid-19, the overall picture for the year was a positive one with a strong rebound evident across the labour market, supported by Ireland’s openness to trade and investment. In recent weeks, Ireland’s enterprise agencies have reported high levels of employment growth within their portfolios of client companies in 2021.

LinkedIn data shows that recovery in the demand for employees is particularly evident in the Consumer Goods and Retail sectors, which saw increases of 106% and 45% respectively in their share of jobs posted on LinkedIn by companies in Ireland between 2020 and 2021. 

The share of job postings in the Software and IT Services industry group, which remained buoyant in 2020, increased by 22% year-on-year, while there were increases of 9% in the Finance industry and 6% in Transport and Logistics.   

“It’s clear, an increasing number of Irish-based employers are providing greater flexibility to employees who are seeking to embrace this new era of hybrid working,” says James O’Connor, Vice President of Microsoft International Operations.

Sharon McCooey, Head of LinkedIn Ireland, added: “Globally we are at a unique inflexion point with people re-evaluating how, where and why they work - and Ireland is no different as we can see from the heightened activity across our two million strong membership.” 

IDA Ireland is an autonomous Statutory Agency that aims to encourage investment into Ireland by foreign-owned companies.