With the economic conditions and uncertainty of the past few years, jobs growth has been relatively slow. This may be set to change shortly as the recent 2012 IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook ranks Ireland as the top destination in the world for availability of skilled labour and the adaptability of its workforce.

This attractiveness for FDI has led to a large number of multinationals locating here and jobs growth is being experienced in sectors such as ICT and pharmaceuticals. Ireland’s economy is undergoing structural changes and the transition to a more knowledge based economy, has led to an increase in demand for highly skilled workers. Like many countries Ireland is also experiencing high unemployment indicating a clear mismatch in the labour market.

Over the past year there has been a marked improvement in the hiring of temporary and contract employees and we are now seeing a gradual but steady return to the recruitment of permanent and full time workers.

In recent years, fewer jobs and more competition for those opportunities has led to an oversupply of prospective employees and a subsequent drop in pay scales. Despite this, Cpl conducted a comprehensive salary survey amongst senior HR professionals across the country and 24% of businesses expect to increase salaries over the course of 2012 with just 2% intending on decreasing their remuneration packages.

These salary guides contained herewith have been constructed to represent average salaries across a range of roles and sectors. These figures represent annual, hourly or daily salaries only and therefore do not include bonuses, pensions, health, stock options or shares, cars or car allowances or any other pay or non-pay benefits.

These figures have been compiled by our specialist consultants who have many years' collective experience within their sectors. They are based on pay scales originating from a variety of sources across the Cpl Group; including the salaries of 22,000 successful placements made by Cpl last year.

‘Regional’ figures have been compiled in conjunction with our offices throughout the country including Cork, Limerick and Galway.

This information should be used as a guide only.