The Irish Labour Monthly Monitor, commissioned by the ERF and supported by ICON Accounting, has shown a steady cooling in recruitment activity over Q4 – October to December. Overall, December proved the weakest month of 2025 across permanent, contract and temporary hiring.
“What we saw in Q4 was a market that stayed busy, but became more cautious as the year closed,” comments Siobhan Kinsella, President of the Employment and Recruitment Federation. “December was clearly softer across permanent, contract and temporary hiring. Employers are still recruiting, but they are being more selective and taking longer to make decisions. There is no collapse in demand, but there is a clear shift in behaviour. Businesses are focusing their hiring on experienced and specialist roles, tightening approval processes and managing headcount more carefully as they look ahead to 2026. The demand is still there, but the pace has become more measured.”
The survey shows October extending the stronger activity seen in September, followed by a more mixed November and a more subdued December. In permanent recruitment, activity softened towards year end, with the monitor noting that November and December were the only months in 2025 where no participating recruiters reported more than 50 permanent placements.
Contract recruitment showed the clearest pullback into December. Just one in eight recruiters reported an increase in contract activity that month, the lowest level recorded in 2025. Temporary recruitment also cooled from the stronger summer period and was quieter in December, particularly in terms of placements.
Pay rates were broadly steady across the quarter. Most recruiters reported no change in permanent salaries, while contract rates fluctuated more and temporary rates settled after earlier increases during 2025.
Despite the year end slowdown, recruiter expectations for the months ahead remained upbeat. The monitor found that outlook for vacancies over the next three months stayed positive throughout 2025 and peaked in December, with up to 62% of respondents expecting vacancies to improve. Views on candidate supply were more cautious, with around half expecting the availability of qualified candidates to remain unchanged.
The Q4 survey sits against a labour market that remains tight. The CSO reported a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 4.9% in November 2025 and a job vacancy rate of 1.3% in Q3 2025. Total employment stood at 2,825,500 in Q3 2025, up 30,600 YoY.
