{"id":345116,"date":"2026-02-19T10:07:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T10:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/345116\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T10:07:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T10:07:10","slug":"pay-rises-stall-as-employers-trim-costs-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/345116\/","title":{"rendered":"Pay rises stall as employers trim costs \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pay rises are stalling or slowing as employers trim costs and ease recruitment, recruitment group Morgan McKinley<\/a> says in a new report.<\/p>\n

Permanent salaries are up less than 2 per cent this year, lagging cost-of-living<\/a> increases, or staying flat, according to the report.<\/p>\n

Employers have also slowed the rate at which they hire workers, according to Tracy Keevans, the firm\u2019s global FDI director.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not see really high-volume recruitment in the manner in which we used to see it,\u201d she said in advance of the report\u2019s publication on Thursday. \u201cCompanies are hiring fewer people and they are definitely doing more with the workers they have.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest employment trend stems from a combination of cost discipline and the impact of technology, AI<\/a> in particular, Keevans noted. \u201cBut it\u2019s hard to understand which is which,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ireland and younger workers \u2018most exposed\u2019 to AI impact on jobsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Hiring is also more selective, with companies focusing on compliance, regulatory risk and governance, Keevans said.<\/p>\n

The building sector<\/a> remains one of the few exceptions, with the industry seeking to hire large numbers of skilled and professional workers.<\/p>\n

Construction in the Republic is gearing up to build more homes and work on big projects earmarked under the Government\u2019s \u20ac275 billion National Development Plan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Keevans said bigger employers\u2019 slowdown in graduate recruitment benefited smaller businesses, which were able to hire more people with college degrees as a result.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Graduate recruitment slowdown by firms like KPMG in UK sends shiver down spine of south Co DublinOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Bankers remain among the Republic\u2019s best-paid workers, with chief executives drawing salaries between \u20ac300,000 and \u20ac500,000 a year, Morgan McKinley\u2019s Ireland Salary Guide 2026 shows.<\/p>\n

The firm\u2019s report does not include building trades\u2019 pay, but shows salaries paid to professional workers in the industry.<\/p>\n

Architects with more than five years\u2019 experience can earn up to \u20ac90,000 a year in Dublin, the figures show. In Cork, the same worker can also earn up to \u20ac90,000, while pay in other cities reaches \u20ac80,000, Morgan McKinley says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pay rises are stalling or slowing as employers trim costs and ease recruitment, recruitment group Morgan McKinley says…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[289,79,2190,18,19,17,138351,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-345116","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-artificial-intelligence","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-cost-of-living","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-morgan-mckinley","15":"tag-work"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116096745147070001","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}