An employment survey released this week has predicted a bleak few months for hiring.

The latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, which is produced by Ireland's leading provider of workforce management solutions, Manpower Ireland, has found employers in Connacht have predicted a hiring outlook of minus two per cent over the next three months.

Regionally, Ulster has reported the weakest employment outlook of minus eight per cent, which shows a significant decline of 20 percentage points since last quarter. In contrast, Munster employers recorded a more favourable employment outlook of seven per cent, which is the highest outlook recorded by any region for this quarter, followed by Dublin, five per cent and Leinster, four per cent.

Ireland's Net Employment Outlook for the next three months is three per cent, and is calculated by taking the percentage of employers anticipating total employment to increase and subtracting from this the percentage expecting to see a decrease in employment at their location in the next quarter. This is second only to Spain, at zero per cent, as the weakest employment outlook, while India and Peru have reported the strongest employment outlooks of 47 per cent and 40 per cent respectively.

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, which measured 686 Irish employers' intentions to increase or decrease their workforces over the next three months, reveals that employer confidence in the construction industry has weakened by 27 percentage points since last year.

"The employment picture in Connacht is without doubt weaker than three months ago and we can also see that the hiring climate in Ireland is now more conservative than at any point since 2004. The Construction sector is clearly continuing to struggle and the employment outlook of minus 17 per cent is the weakest outlook since the survey began at the start of 2002. While there will undoubtedly be job losses in construction and related industries, having enjoyed many years of significant growth in this sector, it is natural that the labour market would reach a plateau," Jason Kennedy, Managing Director of Manpower Ireland.

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