Entry-level hiring in Ireland’s AI-augmented jobs falls 16%
- Entry-level hiring in Ireland’s AI-augmented occupations fell 16.2% in Q2 2026.
- Hiring across those occupations overall fell 10.8%.
- Ireland ranks fourth globally for AI engineering talent concentration.
- Ireland’s LinkedIn hiring rate fell 6.7% year on year in September.
DUBLIN, IRELAND — Entry-level hiring in Irish occupations that use artificial intelligence fell 16.2% year on year between April and June, a steeper drop than the 10.8% decline across those occupations overall. The slide in junior recruitment comes even as Ireland ranks fourth in the world for AI engineering talent.
Strength, with emerging risks
The figures come from IDA Ireland’s latest Labour Market Pulse report, produced in partnership with Microsoft and LinkedIn, according to The Irish Times. The report said Ireland is entering the AI era in “a position of strength” but warned of “some emerging risks,” chief among them the risk to graduate-level or junior recruitment.
“Within roles such as software engineering and data analysis, there are signs of a sharper pullback in junior recruitment, although the extent to which AI is driving this remains unclear,” the report said. It was published to coincide with the International AI Summit in Dublin, the flagship AI event of Ireland’s European Union presidency.
Fourth for AI talent
Ireland ranked fourth globally for AI engineering talent concentration, with 1.31% of LinkedIn members in the country classified as AI engineering talent. “Only Israel, Singapore and Luxembourg rank higher, with Ireland ahead of Germany, the UK and France,” the report noted. Ireland also ranked fourth for net AI talent migration.
“Ranking fourth in the world for AI talent sends a powerful signal to investors, and our focus now is on building on that advantage through continued investment in talent, infrastructure and adoption,” said IDA Ireland chief executive Michael Lohan.
Mixed signals on the slowdown
Hiring in Ireland has moderated in line with international trends but remains more resilient than in some European peers. In September, LinkedIn’s hiring rate for Ireland was down 6.7% year on year, compared with declines of 11.3% in the U.K. and 18.1% in Germany.
The report found “no clear evidence that the hiring slowdown is concentrated in jobs most exposed to AI or is disproportionately affecting entry-level recruitment.” Entry-level hiring fell 8.3% year on year in September, broadly in line with the 6.7% drop in overall hiring.
Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke said “Ireland has moved quickly in adopting AI, with strong AI usage and diffusion across our economy,” with unemployment low at close to 5%.
For employers, the second-quarter data suggests junior pipelines in technical roles are thinning first, which could narrow the pool of experienced candidates later. Companies filling software and data roles can pair artificial intelligence (AI) training for junior staff with recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) for hard-to-fill positions, and compare partners on the top AI outsourcing companies list.
Related news
- Economists expect AI to weigh on college grads’ wages: Indeed · 3 Oct
- Workers fear for junior roles more than their own: Anthropic · 22 Aug
- 22% of firms cut entry-level hiring due to AI: Gartner · 8 Aug
Disclosure: Outsource Accelerator uses AI tools in the backend of its editorial workflow. Every article is reviewed and verified by a human editor before publication.
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