The availability of professional jobs in Ireland increased by 11% in October when compared to the same time last year according to data from the latest Morgan McKinley Irish Employment Monitor.

The monitor measures the pulse of the Irish professional jobs market by tracking the number of new job vacancies and new candidates within the Republic of Ireland each month.

On a month-to-month basis, the monitor registered an increase of 8.6% in the number of new professional job opportunities available in October.

Trayc Keevans, Global Foreign Direct Investment Director at Morgan McKinley Ireland, commented, "The number of jobs coming available has risen for three successive months in a row and is at its highest level since July. While it is not unusual to see a ramp-up of recruitment activity towards Christmas, this is currently at a noticeably higher level than last year.”

Keevans said that while there is normally an increase in recruitment activity before Christmas, she added that Brexit was the main reason for the increase, describing this month’s rise in jobs available as a “Brexit boost”.

“A lot of that is Brexit-related, where we continue to see a big inflow of talent not just from the UK but from right across Europe, where professionals are choosing Ireland for onward career opportunities,” Keevans said.

The top three career areas recruiting professionals in Ireland in October were Financial Services (34%), Software as a Service (13%) (SaaS – a specialist area within technology) and Pharma (12%).

“These are all functions associated with Brexit-related activity, Keevans said.

In financial services, the monitor showed a significant requirement for more complex senior functions in areas including asset management, compliance, financial control, risk management and, for example, controlled functions or roles in entities regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland where there is a considerable level of applicant and approval activity.

“Companies are deploying the full extent of their recruitment budgets before year-end, and are also seeking to have people on board and adding value to their organisations in time for the new year,” Keevans said.