85% of Irish professionals have confidence in the sector they work in

According to a recent Robert Walters survey, the majority of Irish professionals have confidence in the sector they work in. More than 6,700 professionals across Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland were surveyed on a variety of employment related issues including working habits, job satisfaction, motivation and working environment. In line with overall European results, the survey revealed that 85% of Irish professionals have confidence in the sector they work in.

European results were overwhelmingly positive with 82% of individuals claiming to have confidence in the industry in which they work. The Netherlands ranked highest at 86%, with Ireland following closely at 85%. Switzerland ranked lowest at 77%.

Suzanne Feeney, Director at Robert Walters Ireland, says: “Given the challenging Eurozone conditions over the past 5 years, this is an extremely positive result among the professional working population in Europe. In Ireland, although the majority of respondents were from banking & financial services (27%), the sector that people were most optimistic about was IT at 38%, with the banking & financial services sector following IT at 29%. The manufacturing sector was the sector that professionals were least optimistic about with a mere 1.3% of respondents expressing confidence about the future of this industry.”

Confidence in the IT sector is in line with the latest Robert Walters European Job Index results, where the IT industry in Ireland, the largest sector by advertising volume, grew by 11% year-on-year to a total of 14,587 adverts, and increased 9% when compared to the previous quarter.

In Ireland, 85% of professionals also feel confident in their career. Generation Y professionals (those born between 1980 – 1994) had the most confidence in their career at 86%, while Generation X (born between 1968 – 1979) had the least, with 75%.

Suzanne Feeney says: “Since our last survey in 2013, there has been a marked improvement in confidence among Irish professionals in the sectors they are employed in. This is very much in line with our European Job Index which showed a 12% increase in job vacancies advertised in Ireland over the past 12 months. As confidence grows, we are seeing a corresponding level of individuals changing jobs and availing of improving market conditions.”    

For more information please contact:

Anita Duignan, Marketing Administrator
Tel: +353 (0)1 673 0817
Email: anita.duignan@robertwalters.com

Suzanne Feeney, Country Manager
Tel: +353 1 673 0812
Email: suzanne.feeney@robertwalters.com