The extent of staff shortages as the economy emerged from the Covid-19 closures has been surprising. There have been shortages for some time in high-tech sectors and particularly for key jobs in areas like software development, some areas of the pharma sector and the fast-growing area of data analysis.
However, post-Covid the shortages have spread throughout the economy. Representatives of the pub sector told an Oireachtas committee this week that up to one-third of employees had not returned after the pandemic and that some pubs had to close for a couple of days each week as a result.
Unpicking the reasons for this is not straightforward. Unemployment has returned to low pre-Covid levels and the pandemic unemployment payment is no longer available. A Fáilte Ireland survey earlier this year estimated that more than four out of 10 employees in the tourism and hospitality sector did not return to their previous employers after the pandemic. Some 15 per cent went to a new employer in the accommodation and food sector and 27 per cent went to a new employer in a different sector.
This is one of the big clues — the availability of employment in other, often better-paid sectors often with more regular hours has been a key factor. Employees have been “trading up” the jobs ladder.
The return of many non-national employees back home during the pandemic is another key factor. And now the stratospheric price of rental, particularly in urban areas, is a block to many returning to Ireland. Interestingly IDA Ireland and some big employers like Intel have also highlighted the price of property, to buy and rent, as a big problem.
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This has left employers scrambling for staff — the Fáilte Ireland survey showed they were using existing employees to try to recruit friends — trying to persuade former employees to return and so on.
The survey showed that while most employees were committed to their jobs, the relatively low pay and unsocial hours were unsurprisingly a challenge. About half of the 5,000 employees surveyed earned between €10 and €12 an hour.
With shortages across the economy, the only way this would quickly change is if there is a recession and demand for labour falls. Nobody wants that to happen. For now the fight for staff continues and this will in time mean that business profits are hit and some companies go out of business or have to restrict their operations further.
