We just learned from the CSO yesterday that Ireland’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was downwardly revised to 7.5% in October 2016 compared to 7.7% previously estimated .

This 7.5% figure is the lowest level since September 2008 .Unemployment rates in Ireland averaged 10.88% from 1983 until 2016 reaching an all time high of 17.40% in December of 1985 and a record low of 3.70% in December of 2000.

While this excellent news on the employment level is very welcome and an unemployment rate of under 8% is a significant improvement there in now a very real concern among employers that the already acute skills shortage in all sectors will now intensify .

At the CEO forum held in Dublin a survey of Ireland’s CEOs highlighted that a shortage of Talent was the biggest concern of Ireland’s CEOs far outweighing  Brexit or President Trump .

The concern is that this skills shortage will slow down our economic progress and the lack of skilled talent is leading  to wage inflation in many sectors .

The battle for Talent is Global and in high-skilled industries employers are willing to pay a premium for difficult to fill roles  with competition between countries and employers happening on a daily basis .

Ireland needs to meet these skills  shortage head on and the Education and Training system must address the need for large numbers of apprentices with a targeted action plan .

Ireland must invest in innovative solutions that expand our Talent pool by sourcing Talent overseas ,both Irish emigrants abroad and skilled non-Irish workers who are available in a number of locations .

Failure to address this issue in the short term will result in significant wage inflation ,a slow down in economic development and could result in today’s unemployment rate rising again .