Personal and Work-Life Balance Survey

Job and Life Satisfaction and Barriers to Work, CSO, April 2022   By Gerard Walker, Future Jobs-Skills-Work-Insights   Remote workers and those who operate a hybrid work model were most satisfied with their job according to the recent CSO Personal and Work-Life Balance Survey.   Some 92% of hybrid workers surveyed declared themselves satisfied w... Read More

Ireland’s Jobs Market: A 3-Speed Recovery

By Gerard Walker, Future Jobs-Skills-Work Insights   Total employment is now at 2,506,000 - almost 150,000 higher than prior to the pandemic, according to recent employment data figures for 2021 recently released by the CSO.   The figures enable a comparison with two years previously before the start of the pandemic, and also revealed that the total number... Read More

The Circular Economy: Living More, Using Less

Gerard Walker, Future Jobs-Skills-Work Insights                                            The Government has recently published Ireland’s first Circular Economy Strategy 2022-2023 entitled “Living More, Using Less”. In economic terms it is estimated that a 5... Read More

CSO Survey: “Our Lives Online: Remote Work”

By Gerard Walker, Future Jobs-Skills-Work-Insights       The main purpose of this survey is to give insights into the uptake of remote working in Ireland. Summary findings of the survey conducted in November 2021 are as follows:  Eighty percent of respondents in employment have worked remotely at some time since the inception of the COVID-19 pandemic ... Read More

OECD Report: Training in Enterprises New Evidence from 100 Case Studies

By Gerard Walker, Future Jobs-Skills-Work-Insights     This recent OECD report investigates what, why and how enterprises provide training. It presents evidence from 100 qualitative cases studies of medium and large sized companies from five countries: Ireland, Austria, Estonia, France, and Italy.   These were chosen to represent a diverse set of adult learning sy... Read More

OECD Review of Ireland's National Skills Strategy

By Gerard Walker Future Jobs-Skills-Work-Insights     Ireland's current National Skills Strategy is to be reviewed as part of a joint project between the State, stakeholders in the skills sector and the OECD. The review, led by the OECD, will focus on how Ireland is equipped to meet current and future skills needs as well as examining how businesses and employees can be s... Read More

Reaction to Budget 2022

  By Gerard Walker, Future Jobs-Skills-Work Insights     The Department of Finance expects that the Covid-19 adjusted unemployment rate, which includes everyone on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, will fall to 9.25% this year. This is down from the peak of 19% recorded at the height of the pandemic. The jobless rate is expected to fall to 6.5% by the end of 2022. ... Read More

Pathway to Work Strategy 2021-2025 

By Gerard Walker, Future Jobs Skills-Work-Insights   This new Government Pathways to Work Strategy is designed to drive employment recovery in Ireland. It comprises a key element of the Governments Recovery Plan, which aims to exceed pre-crisis employment levels by 2024. The Strategy is framed against the background of the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic, Brexit, and ongoing chang... Read More

Spotlight on Life Sector Talent in Ireland

By Gerard Walker, Future Jobs-Skills-Work Insights   The Life Science sector in Ireland comprises 500 Biopharmachem and Medical Devices companies with clusters of activity in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick, Mayo, Waterford, and Athlone. The sector employs 50,000 people directly as well those working in sub-supply and services activities. It has remained operational throughout t... Read More

Upskilling and Reskilling in the Post-Covid Era

By Gerard Walker, Future Jobs-Skills-Work Insights          An EU conference on Upskilling and Reskilling in the Post-covid Era took place over June 29th and 30th, 2021. This online event of European and USA presenters focussed on the upskilling and reskilling challenges that countries currently face. The conference presented good practice cases, sc... Read More