The Irish Economy, despite being one of the fastest-growing European economies, experiences skill shortages in several industries. Skill shortage is generally defined as a supply-demand gap in the number of skilled professionals required to conduct jobs across industries in a country. With Ireland poised to become the European powerhouse, several key industries with skill shortages are:

  • Project Managers
  • Healthcare Professionals
  • Financial Accountants
  • Financial Services Professionals
  • Electrical, mechanical, civil and Software Engineers
  • Gaming Professionals
  • App Developers (Java/C++/SQL/Python)
  • Data Scientists

With the emergence of Ireland as a technological hub of Europe, Project Managers are in high demand by organizations of various sizes to ensure that the ongoing and upcoming projects are managed well. This has led to a skill shortage among the local population, which needs to be supplemented by highly skilled graduates graduating from Irish and other European universities. A wide range of technology companies operating in the niche segments such as gaming software, e-learning, and bioinformatics are looking to hire skilled software and app developers. These are currently in the skills shortage list published by the Irish Government. 

Moreover, with the rest of Europe looking at Ireland as a software powerhouse, the demand for such skilled tech-professionals is ever-increasing. There has been a manifold increase in vacancies in Ireland for software engineers specializing in web development, networking, IT security, and gaming, which further demands highly-skilled graduates from across the world to fill in these positions. The infrastructure sector in Ireland has a skill shortage for electrical engineers specializing in power generation and wind power, biomedical engineers, and project management engineers, who can perform complex construction and design tasks. This opens opportunities for technical and management graduates to take up lucrative positions in the construction and infrastructure development industries in Ireland. 

The Healthcare industry has been one of the key emerging sectors in Ireland with the requirements for skilled health professionals to provide care and nursing services. The demand for qualified healthcare professionals in Ireland has triggered the emergence of new courses in healthcare sciences, nursing, and pharmaceuticals at several Irish Universities. 

Finally, another key area of skill shortage in Ireland is that of qualified financial accountants who specialize in financial control, compliance, treasury, and risk. This skill shortage is the outcome of a rapid rise in financial services companies setting up their European headquarters in Ireland, as a result of the country’s prime location, government support, and investment opportunities. The Big 4 Accounting firms are looking for highly skilled accountants and financial services experts at different levels to fill up positions. To attract suitable talent from across the world, companies based in Ireland are now increasingly offering flexible working options, work-from-home options, and health and wellness packages, in addition to highly competitive salaries.

To get more details, please contact our relationships team. 

Also, find out why is it worth to study in Ireland.