Digital skills are on the rise among Ireland’s workforce, while the country has a larger amount of remote working opportunities compared to other countries. That’s according to a new report by IDA Ireland, in partnership with Microsoft and LinkedIn.

IDA Ireland’s latest Labour Market Pulse report found that in 2021, Ireland had the highest level of employed people usually working from home in the EU, at 32pc.

Ireland’s lead in remote working has stayed steady, as almost one in five of the Irish job postings on LinkedIn in April offered remote working for candidates. This was the highest value among seven markets monitored by LinkedIn, including France, the Netherlands and the UK.

The level of remote working is similar to IDA Ireland’s previous report in February, which found remote working opportunities continue to grow. This shows an increase since the firm’s previous quarterly report last October, which found that one in seven jobs postings on LinkedIn offered remote working.

“Our data shows that hybrid working continues to be a significant factor in attracting talent to organisations, which in turn has led to an evolution in how we collaborate, and a natural uptake in the adoption of digital skills and tools,” said head of LinkedIn Ireland Sharon McCooey.

Uptake in digital skills

The latest data from Irish LinkedIn members shows that the share of digital skills added by members has risen by almost 20pc since 2019 and by almost 30pc since 2015.

The most popular digital skill groups added on LinkedIn last year were digital literacy (44pc), data science (24pc) and development tools (16pc).

The report the level of digital skills is on the rise across a range of non-technology sectors such as construction, transport and logistics, corporate services and finance. People working in software and IT services, media and communications and finance sectors added the greatest share of digital skills.

While digital skills are on the rise, the share of non-digital skills added by members has fallen by almost 15pc since 2019 and by almost 25pc since 2015.

Microsoft Ireland site lead and VP of international operations James O’Connor said the growth of digital skills in non-technology sectors highlights the importance of “external learning pathways and employer supports” to help people of all ages and backgrounds to participate in Ireland’s digital economy.

“The growth in the share of digital skills added by LinkedIn members and concurrent drop in the share of non-digital skills points to the ever-accelerating digital transformation of our economy and society and the need for today’s workforce to keep pace with this acceleration,” O’Connor said.

The LinkedIn data is based on analysis of the skills added by more than 2m members in Ireland over the past six years.

A Google and Amárach report in April claimed that a national investment in digital skills could add €9.5bn to Ireland’s economy in the next three years.

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