The Irish economy may be showing signs of recovery, but for the hundreds of people who lined up at the Working International Expo in Ballsbridge today, countries like Canada, Australia and New Zealand still offer better opportunities for them and their families than Ireland can.
Companies and recruitment agencies had more than 900 vacancies to fill at the fair today, ranging from truck drivers and marine engineers, to restaurant managers, software developers, midwives and care attendants.
Newfoundland's minister for education and skills Kevin O'Brien, who led a delegation of employers from his own province, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, said the high number of underemployed workers in Ireland has been a huge draw for Canadian companies in recent years.
“We have a real shortage in the service industry, especially for high end cooks. We have a shortage in personal care home sector… and in the construction industry, for experienced workers with certain skillsets such as carpenters, pipefitters, and scaffolders, who are readily available in Ireland.”
Canadian employers at the fair ranged from the country's largest publicly traded construction company Aecon - which built the CN Tower in Toronto - looking to hire powerline technicians, estimators and senior planners, to Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken, interviewing for supervisors and managers.
About 350 Irish workers recruited through these jobs fairs in recent years are now living in Newfoundland and Labrador as permanent residents, while another 120 people are living in the province as temporary foreign workers. "We have had good success here in Ireland," O'Brien says.
Queuing at a stand to speak with a construction company in New Zealand, Michael Flood (34), a heavy machine operator from Slane in Co Meath, says has seen a slight improvement in his sector in the last few months, but believes employers are taking advantage of workers and are not willing to pay a decent wage.
“You can get bits of work, but trying to get paid for it is a different story. I just want a better life for myself and my son (8),” he says. “I was born and reared here, and I would like to come back at some stage, but if I can better my life in Canada or Australia or New Zealand I will. I don’t want to but I have to. There’s no use staying around here working for nothing.”
Recent graduate Christine Meade (22), also from Slane, is looking forward to "getting out of Ireland and seeing a bit of the world". She has been looking for work in social care since finishing her degree in Waterford IT earlier this year, but says employers are only hiring people with experience.
She is interested in going to Australia or Canada where some of her friends have already gone. “There’s not much in Ireland at the moment and everyone is going, so I don’t want to be left behind,” she says.
Other attendees at the expo are motivated to move abroad by more than just better work opportunities. IT manager Tim Carter and his wife Chrystal have been planning to move to Australia from their home in Lisburn, Co Antrim for the past five years, believing Melbourne will be a better place to raise their three young daughters, aged four months to eight years.
Carter is expecting to earn about 50 per cent more in Australia than he would in Ireland. “The living costs are a bit higher, but based on my calculations it looks like we’ll be a lot better off down there once I get work.”
General manager of Working International Spencer Hawkes, who has been involved in organising five expos in Dublin in the last two years, says there has been a notable shift in the demographic of attendees since they first came to Ireland in 2012.
“Since 2008, we have seen large numbers of Irish people coming to the expo looking to leave the country quite quickly because the jobs weren’t available for them in Ireland. But now it seems to be people who are looking for a lifestyle choice and a change in weather,” he says.
“The economy may be improving here, but we are still selling tickets, we are still filling the hall… It can actually be easier to recruit people (to work abroad) when times are good and people can get a better price for the house they are selling, which makes it much easier for them to move overseas.”
He said Irish people are well trained and progress well in their careers abroad, “which is very useful for employers who are seeking skills which aren’t available in their own country”.
