The findings follow on from a Labour Market Pulse report published in 2022, which found that Ireland’s share of workers with green skills is on the rise.
The global demand for green skills is quickly outpacing supply, according to the latest IDA Ireland Labour Market Pulse report.
Published today (12 December) in collaboration with LinkedIn and Microsoft, the report provides insights and trends from the current Irish labour market.
According to the report, the percentage of job postings requiring green skills in Ireland is one of the highest internationally, with one in eight (12.4pc) Irish jobs now requiring at least one green skill.
Green skills are most concentrated in industries such as utilities, construction and manufacturing, with skills such as environmental impact assessment and operational efficiency among the fastest growing in demand.
It also found that global demand for green skills is rapidly outpacing supply, with estimates indicating that by 2050, twice as many jobs will require green expertise than there will be people qualified to fill them.
Specifically, LinkedIn data saw demand for green talent grow by 22.1pc last year, and in the context of Ireland, demand for green skills grew at twice the rate of the rest of the world, at 11.9pc compared to 6pc between 2021 and 2024.
Green talent has become more desirable to employers, as job seekers in Ireland with green skills or titles achieve a 79.8pc higher hiring rate than the overall workforce, according to the report.
Growth for the green economy
Commenting on the findings, Michael Lohan, the CEO of IDA Ireland said: “I welcome the data insights which show that the green economy is a rapidly growing sector, with demand for green talent increasing by 11.6pc from 2023 to 2024.”
Lohan added that the IDA has so far facilitated 50 green investments.
James O’Connor, Microsoft Ireland’s site lead and corporate VP of Microsoft Global Operations Service Centre, also gave his views following the publication of the report. He said that as Ireland advances on its “sustainability journey, it is important that every community, business and individual has the right capabilities to support the green transition”.
O’Connor further said that the data “highlights the need for greater investment in green skills across key industries to accelerate a zero-carbon future for Ireland”.
Another person who gave their thoughts on the report was LinkedIn Ireland’s country manager Sue Duke.
She expressed her view that the climate crisis is the “biggest challenge facing society, and green talent will be central to overcoming it”.
“We can already see that Irish companies are stepping up to play their part, as evidenced by the high levels of hiring for workers with green skills and it is crucial that supply is boosted in order to meet demand,” Duke said. “Upskilling will play a crucial role as we cannot simply wait for new talent with the requisite skills to enter the workforce to deliver on this.”
This latest report follows the publication of the Labour Market Pulse report in April, in which IDA Ireland remarked that the Irish economy is in a strong position to benefit from recent advances in GenAI by accelerating the shift to a skills-based labour market.
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