More than eighty percent (84%) of employees in Ireland, expect salaries to increase, according to the 2018 Abrivia Recruitment/TCD Salary, Employment and Economic Trends Survey.

The survey, which was conducted with 7,400 clients and 45,000 employees from multiple industry sectors, showed 48% of the workers who anticipate a pay rise in 2018 are expecting a rise of less than 5%. However, 37% are predicting a pay increase of between 5% and 10% from last year.

Meanwhile, David O’Brien, Managing Director of Abrivia Recruitment, said that 85% of firms expect to hire new employees with salaries in IT and Finance pulling far ahead of other sectors. “In line with the general trend of staff shortages in key areas, 64% of employers have employed a non-Irish applicant based outside Ireland in the past 12 months, up from 58% in the previous survey,” O’Brien said.

The report also showed that Irish professionals are coming home in greater numbers, with 56% of companies overall reporting they had hired returning Irish nationals in 2017, up from 47% in 2016. It was most pronounced in the finance and banking sector, where 71% said they had hired returning workers.