The Ireland jobs market in 2026 is two markets. Unemployment has edged up to 5.1%, according to the CSO Labour Force Survey for Q2 2026, and pay growth has slowed, yet employers still report shortages in healthcare, life sciences, construction, engineering and food technical roles. Technology is the clearest case of a sector where hiring has cooled.
The headline figures: jobs, vacancies and pay
The CSO Labour Force Survey for Q2 2026 counted 2,839,300 people in employment, up 21,200 or 0.8% year on year. The unemployment rate was 5.1%, or 151,000 people, up from 4.8%.
Pay growth has slowed. In the Ibec HR Update of 12 September 2025, from more than 400 senior HR respondents, 80% of businesses expected to raise pay in 2026, by an average of 3.1%, against 85% and 3.6% in 2025. Costs are still rising: the ERF Irish Labour Market Monitor for Q2 2026, published on 14 August 2026, put average hourly labour costs at €38.92 in Q1 2026, up 17.4% in three years. In the same monitor, 58% of recruiters reported longer time to fill permanent vacancies.
Healthcare: tight, and reliant on overseas recruitment
The SOLAS National Skills Bulletin 2025, published on 23 October 2025 using 2024 data, lists medical practitioners and nurses as shortage occupations and care workers as a labour shortage. It records that healthcare occupations took 22% of all new employment permits in 2024. In the BDO and Nursing Homes Ireland member survey of 30 June 2026, average occupancy was 94.9% and 52% of homes named recruitment as a significant challenge.
Overseas hiring carries a salary floor. As of 1 March 2026, the minimum annual remuneration for employment permits is €40,904 for a Critical Skills permit with a relevant degree, which the BDO survey gives as the floor for nurses, and €32,691 for healthcare assistants. January 2027 thresholds were not yet set at the time of writing, so check with the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment before you budget.
Life sciences and food: scarce technical people
SOLAS lists analytical, process and medical scientists, quality and process engineers, automation engineers and laboratory technicians as shortage occupations. Its November 2024 survey of recruitment agencies adds validation engineers and regulatory affairs specialists as hard to fill. The Department of Enterprise reported on 12 February 2026 that employment in foreign owned companies supported by the State enterprise agencies grew in chemicals and medical devices in 2025.
Food Drink Ireland, the Ibec sector group, reported in January 2026 that the industry employs almost 60,000 people directly and that 64% of manufacturers name attracting and retaining a quality workforce as a top challenge. There is no current official count of shortages in food science roles. The nearest evidence is SOLAS, where microbiologists and food and production operatives appear in the agency survey.
Construction and engineering: the slowest vacancies to fill
The ERF monitor reports that construction, industry and transport together added 56,500 jobs in the year to Q1 2026. Indeed Hiring Lab reported on 27 January 2026 that civil engineering postings were the hardest to fill in Ireland, with 54% open for 60 days or more, followed by electrical engineering at 48%. SOLAS lists civil engineers, construction project managers, quantity surveyors, carpenters and welders as shortage occupations.
Technology: where hiring has cooled
The ERF monitor records that high tech services lost 35,000 jobs in the year to Q1 2026, and Bloomberg reported on 12 July 2026 that ICT employment fell almost 11% year on year in Q1 2026. Indeed found Dublin job postings 12% below their level before the pandemic, while Cork, Galway, Kildare and Limerick stayed above it.
Not every technology hire is easy. Software developers were still on the SOLAS shortage list, cyber, AI and cloud engineers appear in its agency survey, and Indeed put AI related roles at about 11% of Irish job postings.
What this means for how you hire
Skills shortages in Ireland in 2026 remain widespread, even in a looser market. In the CIPD HR Practices in Ireland 2026 report, published in May 2026 from 330 responses, 91% of organisations reported skills shortages, 73% said the housing crisis had made recruitment harder and 68% now recruit from a wider geographical area. FH Recruitment suggests three adjustments.
- Split your hiring plan. Treat general roles differently from registered, technical and regulated roles, where candidates are scarce.
- Move quickly on scarce people. Agree the salary range, interview stages and decision dates before you advertise.
- Widen the search. Consider regional candidates, people leaving technology employers and contract cover. Ibec forecast in September 2025 that the permanent share of new hires would fall from 95% to 89% in 2026.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or immigration advice, so confirm permit and employment details with the relevant authority or an adviser.
Sources
All figures come from these published sources, as of the dates shown.
- CSO Labour Force Survey, Q2 2026
- SOLAS National Skills Bulletin 2025 (published 23 October 2025; 2024 data), including its Recruitment Agency Survey of November 2024
- Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment: Roadmap Review 2025 on employment permit pay thresholds (rates from 1 March 2026) and employment results statement (12 February 2026)
- ERF Irish Labour Market Monitor Q2 2026, research by Ipsos B&A (published 14 August 2026)
- Ibec HR Update (12 September 2025) and Food Drink Ireland (January 2026)
- CIPD HR Practices in Ireland 2026 (published May 2026)
- Indeed Hiring Lab Ireland jobs and hiring trends report (27 January 2026)
- BDO and Nursing Homes Ireland member survey (30 June 2026)
- Bloomberg, carried by The Star (12 July 2026)
Hiring, or thinking about a move?
Talk to the person who would run your search.
