The National Skills Bulletin 2025, the 21st in a series of annual reports produced by the Skills and Labour Market Research Unit in SOLAS, provides insights into the recent developments in Ireland’s workforce, highlighting areas of skills demand, identifying jobs that are difficult to fill, and pinpointing occupations where shortages exist. The labour market intelligence outlined in the National Skills Bulletin allows for an evidence base to inform policy in a range of areas including education and training, labour market activation, immigration, and career guidance.

Based on data available through the OECD’s PIAAC study, this report examines the extent to which skills mismatch is prevalent in Ireland’s workforce.  The report identifies the nature of skills mismatch (either under- or over-skilling) and provides a profile of the workers who are under-skilled and who are over-skilled by age, gender, education level, field of education, sector and broad occupation.   

In quarter 4 2024, 16% of 25-64-year-olds had engaged in lifelong learning, the highest rate to date. All told, nearly 458,000 adults had engaged in formal and/or non-formal learning activities in quarter 4 2024. This report looks at how lifelong learning rates and numbers differ by age, education level, work status, region, among other variables.

The Spring Skills Bulletin 2025 titled ‘Is Ireland Truly Green? Measuring Green Jobs and Skills in the Irish Labour Market’ examines both the level of green employment over time in Ireland and the extent to which green skills are mentioned in online job vacancies.  Green employment is analysed by key indicators including sector, occupation, gender, age, citizenship, education level and region of employment.

Monitoring Ireland’s Skills Supply 2024 aims to show the potential supply of skills emerging from Ireland’s further and higher education system. It presents a summary of the number of awards made to learners in Ireland by field and NFQ level in the year 2023. The report also provides a profile of the educational attainment of Ireland’s population based on data from the CSO’s Labour Force Survey.

The latest Recruitment Agency Survey, produced by the Skills and Labour Market Research Unit (SLMRU), gathers the views of selected Irish recruitment agencies as to which vacancies are proving difficult to fill.

The National Skills Bulletin 2024 provides an analysis of employment in Ireland. In addition to providing a detailed employment profile of nearly 100 occupations, the report highlights areas of skills and labour demand, and identifies occupations in which shortages occur. The labour market intelligence outlined in the National Skills Bulletin allows for an evidence base to inform policy in a range of areas including education and training, labour market activation, immigration, and career guidance. The National Skills Bulletin 2024 marks the 20th edition of a series of reports, produced annually by the Skills and Labour Market Research Unit in SOLAS.

The Autumn Skills Bulletin from the SLMRU reports on the extent of job autonomy amongst workers in Ireland compared to the EU 27 average. Based on data from the EU Labour Force Survey for the year 2022, high job autonomy in Ireland varies by gender, age and education level, as well as by economic sector and occupation.

The latest skills bulletin titled ‘Occupational gender segregation in Ireland: unlocking labour supply to meet key skills needs’ examines the roles where occupational gender segregation (defined as where there is an unequal distribution of males and females across job roles) is occurring.  The report highlights that occupational gender segregation is particularly prevalent for occupations experiencing skills shortages and reducing the level of segregation could open up further supply to meet demand.  Following an overview of occupational gender segregation in Ireland’s workforce, the average usual hours worked and the family structure for those employed in gender segregated roles are explored.

This year’s report looks at the number and share of persons who participated in formal and non-formal learning quarter 4 2023, based on the CSO’s Labour Force Survey.  An EU comparison is also provided as well as a summary of the main findings from the CSO’s Adult Education Survey 2022.  This year’s report shows that there has been an increase in lifelong learning, driven mainly by growth in the number of females and in the numbers undertaking job-related learning activities.

The Hospitality Skills in Ireland report, produced by the SLMRU in SOLAS in collaboration with Fáilte Ireland, examines recent employment trends in hospitality jobs in Ireland and provides an overview of Fáilte Ireland’s research on tourism careers.  The report highlights the key employment indicators for hospitality skills as well as the extent to which COVID-19 related restrictions impacted and changed the employment landscape in these areas.

This report outlines the transversal skills that were in the greatest demand in adverts for jobs in Ireland that were posted online in the 12 months to September 2023. It draws on CEDEFOP’s Online Vacancy Analysis Tool for Europe (OVATE) and shows that transversal skills accounted for well over a quarter of all skills mentioned in online job adverts.  The report highlights the most frequently occurring transversal skills, such as ‘adapt to change’ and ‘work in teams’; it then goes on to examine the most relevant detailed occupations for each of the top ten transversal skills, identifying skills that tend to occur across a wide range of occupations as well as those that tend to be particularly relevant for certain occupational families (e.g. finance, engineering, etc.).

The Summer Skills Bulletin 2023 examines the occupational forecasts produced by the Cedefop Skills Forecasting team for Ireland for the period from 2021 to 2035.  Some discrepancies exist between the Cedefop baseline figures and the published employment data for Ireland; nonetheless, the forecasts provide a guide for the potential direction of occupational trends over the forecast period.  The report examines how the forecasted employment growth of 650,000 persons and replacement demand of 1.5 million persons breaks down by detailed occupation level. The largest growth is forecast for professional, associate professional and managerial roles.  Those with high qualifications (i.e. tertiary education) are forecast to account for 85% of total employment growth and just over half of replacement demand. 

The Spring Skills Bulletin 2023 examines the contribution of young people (aged 15-24 years) to the Irish labour force between quarter 3 2019 and quarter 3 2022. With the easing of COVID-19 restrictions and the bounce back of the economy, this age cohort has seen employment levels recover and an increased demand for labour. In quarter 3 2022, there were a total of 311,900 young people (aged 15-24 years) employed, while they represented 13.3% of the total labour force. The report shows that between quarter 3 2019 and quarter 3 2022, youth employment increased by 45,300, or 17.0%, which is higher than the 9.9% increase across all age groups.

The latest in the Skills Bulletin series examines the extent to which Ireland has the capacity to expand its workforce to meet its labour market needs. The report profiles those working part-time who are seeking more hours, those unemployed, and those outside of the labour force but are either available but not seeking employment or seeking employment but not available. Combined these three groups are those potentially available to meet any additional demands in the labour market.

The latest in the Skills Bulletin series provides insights into the changing landscape of female employment since the onset of COVID-19. Despite a significant decline in employment with the onset of the pandemic in 2020, female employment grew by 93,000 in the two-year period from quarter 4 2019 to reach 1.18 million.  This Bulletin aims to examine the nature, components and drivers of this increase.

Shifting Sands, Navigating the Patterns emerging in the Irish Labour Market post-COVID-19 is a new report commissioned by SOLAS/SLMRU and undertaken by leading international analytics agency, Emsi Burning Glass.  The report aims to understand the impacts and evolving trends occurring since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It sets out key areas of focus to help us shape the current and future skills requirements to respond to what is now a different landscape in Ireland.

This paper, a collaboration between the Department of Social Protection and SOLAS, builds on Brexit preparations to date by providing insight into the sectors, and in turn workers, likely to be impacted by the trade consequences of Brexit. First, an analysis of Ireland’s trading relationship with the United Kingdom is conducted, identifying key sectors with the highest export exposures. Secondly, the paper explores the characteristics of those in employment in the most exposed sectors with a focus on the potential impact at regional level. Understanding the kinds of individuals likely to be impacted enables preparation for any potential shock, while also allowing for better targeting of a potential response.

The latest quarterly skills bulletin reports on the number and type of people who were working from home in Ireland in 2020.  As a result of COVID-19 restrictions, the prevalence of home working increased exponentially in 2020 but this was not uniform across the labour market; those availing of home working were primarily highly educated persons in high skilled roles.

This report explores the area of skills mismatches in Ireland, with a particular focus on those employed as clerical workers who are classified as over-qualified for the role.

Autumn Quarterly Skills Bulletin 2020.

This report provides a profile of part-time workers in Ireland and highlights how part-time workers (primarily women) have been significantly impacted by COVID-19.

This report examines the employment profiles of those with qualifications beyond the Leaving Certificate in Ireland. The focus is on individuals whose highest educational attainment is at post-secondary level qualification, either at FET (NFQ 4-6) or third level.

This report focuses on the potential impacts of automation. Many occupations considered at high risk of automation are also those occupations most impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

An analysis based on CEDEFOP’s European Skills for Jobs Survey

Profile of Non-Irish Nationals in Employment in Ireland, Quarter 2 2019

Non-Irish persons working in Ireland tended to be younger, more highly educated, and more likely to be in employment than Irish nationals, but they were more likely than their Irish counterparts to work in low skilled occupations and in sectors such as accommodation & food.

The Quarterly Skills Bulletin No.3 focuses on unemployment in Ireland. The report examines how unemployment compares pre- and post-recession and provides a profile of the unemployed by age (under 25 years versus over 25 years).

The Quarterly Bulletin Q2 2019, focuses on Older Workers in Ireland. The report observes the 50 to 59 age cohort in employment with a view to examining several labour market indicators within this age group.

The 1st Quarterly Skills Bulletin focuses on women on home duties in Ireland. The report examines women on home duties, not participating in the labour force aged between 20 -64 across a number of variables including education levels.