There was a sharp fall in the number of public sector jobs advertised in October compared to the same period last year, according to the Bank of Ireland business banking job index.
But growth in the private sector, particularly in manufacturing, construction and the professions, enabled the index to remain unchanged when compared to the same period in 2002.
The index - which is a barometer of the jobs market - remained unchanged at 104 when compared to the same period in 2002.
The total number of job advertisements in the national press last month was 16,299, slightly down on the 16,403 recorded in October 2002.
However, this was significantly lower than the 18,397 advertisements recorded in September 2003.
A 24 per cent fall in the number of job advertisements placed by the public sector was recorded. Education and healthcare were the worst affected sectors with the number of advertisements down 47 per cent and 10 per cent respectively when compared to last year's jobs index.
The number of jobs advertised by the private sector increased by 6 per cent.
Construction, manufacturing and professional sectors were among the best performing sectors.
Manufacturing advertisements rose 43 per cent when compared to the October 2002 job index survey results.
Mr Dan McLaughlin, Bank of Ireland chief economist, said there was growing evidence that the pace of economic activity in Ireland was picking up and this was mirrored in the jobs index.
"The aggregate figures also mark a striking divergence between private sector and public sector recruitment... which is supportive of the recovery thesis," he said.
