Jobs to rise in Laois this year

JOB opportunities in Laois are expected to grow significantly this year, according to one of the country’s main recruitment agencies.

FRS Recruitment, which has an office in Portlaoise, is forecasting a 7% growth in recruitment opportunities in the county in 2025.

Although slightly lower than the 10% national average, Laois is expected to see a considerable increase in recruitment with the strongest growth in healthcare, commercial and industrial sectors.

According to FRS, whose local office is based in The CUBE building on Church Street, the main growth areas nationally will be in IT, healthcare, commercial, industrial, life sciences, agribusiness and construction.

In a statement on 13 January, FRS Recruitment said: ‘A wide range of positions are expected to be available in Laois in 2025, across the growing sectors and also in other industries. Some of the specific roles FRS Recruitment is expecting to see become available locally include openings for radiographers, social care personnel, clerical officers and general operatives, as well as warehouse staff.’ 

According to FRS, the expectation of increased job opportunities locally and nationally comes with several positive factors likely to influence recruitment. These include the anticipated reduction in interest rates, the recovery of the IT sector, more employers seeking to grow their teams after consolidating in 2024, more flexibility in the market with candidates seeking out new opportunities and the removal of the public sector hiring freeze in healthcare.

FRS Recruitment said they noted ‘significant growth in roles coming to market’ in the last quarter of 2024 in Laois and other parts of the country, with employers already signaling a strong demand for new staff for the year ahead.

FRS Recruitment general manager Lynne McCormack said, “We certainly think there will be an increase in recruitment opportunities coming to market in Laois and around the country this year. There is more optimism in the market from employers and candidates alike. We saw this start to come through at the end of 2024 and our full expectation is that will continue locally and nationally throughout 2025.

“For example, we already have a significant number of employers in Laois who either have openings available or are preparing to bring them to market in the near future. They are making plans to grow their teams and we fully expect to see quite a bit of movement locally, especially in sectors like healthcare, commercial and industrial.

She added: “This comes after a very challenging year for recruitment in 2024, both in Laois and beyond. There was certainly a strong degree of caution in the marketplace last year, as employers decided to concentrate on maintaining their existing teams and asking their staff to do more in light of wider economic concerns, high interest rates, cost of business challenges and other considerations.

“Qualified candidates were also taking a similar outlook, with many potential candidates seeking to enhance their terms and conditions with their existing employers, rather than pursuing fresh opportunities. Candidates were primarily playing it safe.

“However we can already see that perspective has shifted. We’ve had a range of highly qualified candidates reach out to us either side of Christmas expressing their desire to be considered, should new opportunities become available this year. There is also a strong pipeline of recruitment activity coming from employers locally.” 

Ms McCormack concluded, “All things considered, we expect this will lead to a rise in recruitment activity in Laois and around the country throughout 2025 and there will be a lot more opportunities both coming to market and being successfully filled this year,”.

A 100% Irish business, FRS Recruitment has 10 offices nationwide in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Tipperary, Limerick, Kerry, Kilkenny, Offaly, Cavan and Portlaoise and is part of the FRS Co-Op.