Fund administration benefiting from improved job market sentiment

The number of new jobs in the Irish financial services sector was up year-on-year for the first time in over 18 months in December as confidence (slowly) appears to be returning to the job market. The fund administration sector was particularly active.

Irish recruitment firm Premier Group tracks the number of new job vacancies in its monthly employment barometer (below), and December 2009 offered a glimmer of hope after a bleak year.

The 4,432 jobs on the market in December is still low, but it's the first year-on-year monthly increase since February 2008. There are also more opportunities than in November 2009, which is particularly unusual for the typically quiet time of year.

Brian Murphy, managing director of Premier, says that confidence is returning to the Irish financial services jobs market and new opportunities are being created - particularly in the fund administration sector.

"A lot of companies overcut last year, and now things are picking up they are finding themselves short on manpower," he says. "I believe we're likely to see significant levels of recruitment in this sector over the next six to nine months."

Murphy highlights risk management and insurance as being other hot spots in the Irish financial services market.