Firms in the Irish services sector are hiring increasing numbers of workers as confidence remains buoyant, according to the latest survey.
The monthly confidence survey conducted on behalf of NCB stockbrokers recorded a reading of 61.4 in October, well above the 50.0 no-change mark.
However, the index slipped from 61.8 in September, indicating the rate of growth continued to ease following July's recent peak.
Levels of business activity among
Irish service providers continued to rise strongly in October, although the rate of growth again eased slightly following July's recent peak.
Staffing levels in the Irish service sector continued to expand sharply in October, and the rate of job creation picked up to a three-month high.
Firms took on additional workers to deal with rising workloads and in anticipation of future growth of demand.