Most workers expect pay rise this year – survey
Six out of ten workers in Ireland expect a pay rise this year, according to a survey by FRS Recruitment.
That came as employees here felt more confident in their roles, with only 38% fearing for their job security compared to 47% a year ago.
At the same time, 70% of workers believed they could secure a new job in three months or less, up 21 percentage poins on the 2024 result.
“The first thing is that people are more willing to move for a salary increase, so that’s going to create more movement within the market,” said Lynne McCormack, general manager of FRS Recruitment, who was speaking on RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland.
“But there also seems to be a confidence across the employees that, if they were to move jobs, that they could move and find new employment within quite a short space of time.”
That confidence is bolstered by the fact that employers continue to struggle to attract and retain staff, according to this survey.
Three out of four employers said they had experienced difficulties in hiring new talent so far this year, with salary expectations being one of the main sticking points.
As a result, the majority of firms say they are planning to offer wage increases in the year – though in most cases, the change will be relatively modest.
“55% of people expect to provide a raise – but that’s between 1% and 3%, 26% [of employers] expect to give 4-5% and 16% expect to give 6-10%,” said Ms McCormack. “But the challenge is, there could be a disconnect on what employees are expecting and what employers are willing to give.
“That, coupled with the fact that employers are struggling to attract and retain staff, means the dynamics are quite interesting.”
Part of the reason for the conservative approach being taken by many employers may be the concern they feel about the current global economic headwinds.
The survey found that 72% of employers are worried about the current economic outlook, with US tariffs having a significant impact on almost half of all firms surveyed.
“We know Ireland certainly has a strong labour market but the potential challenges on global trading are playing a part here on increasing the concern,” said Ms McCormack. “We’ve seen a certain degree of caution already applied with employers [due to tariffs].
“It’s not necessarily that demand for new staff is gone but there’s been a pausing, or a slowing down, of their recruitment and we’ve also seen an increase in more temporary solutions – so it wasn’t very surprising that almost half of employers said the tariffs could influence their hiring plans over the next year.”
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