ICT
IT Occupations
This occupational group had the strongest annual average employment growth rate over the period 2019-2024, at 9.8%, with much of the growth occurring between 2019 and 2021. Recent job hires far exceeded employment growth between 2023 and 2024, indicating that job churn is a feature for this occupational group. It also signals that at least some of the vacancy notifications for these roles are to replace staff who leave a role rather than due to expansion. The demand for IT skills continues, not only in the ICT sector but across other sectors including finance and industry. The extent to which new technologies, including AI, disrupt employment levels in other IT-related roles such as software development, is as yet unclear but upskilling/re-skilling may be required to adapt to the changing technologies. Although supply from the education/training system remains strong, employment permits remain a key source of supply of skills, and the share of non-Irish citizens employed in these occupations, at 37%, far exceeded the national average.
Shortages
· Software developers/engineers
IT analysts/engineers