Challenges and opportunities for Ireland in new Hays Global Talent Tracker

The new Hays Global Talent Tracker, developed by Oxford Economics, shows that Ireland’s workforce ranks highly in Innovation and Participation, but that high costs and skills pipelines could impact Ireland’s long-term competitiveness when compared to key European rivals.

Ireland has been ranked 33rd out of 35 of some of the world’s leading economies in the new tracker, reflecting a mixed picture of strong innovation capabilities, offset by significant challenges which bring its ranking down. Overall, the report places Ireland behind European competitors such as Sweden (3rd), the Netherlands (7th), the UK (18th), and Germany (15th).

The Global Tracker evaluates each country across five pillars of workforce quality. The pillars examined were Talent Value, Talent Participation, Talent Development, Talent Market Flexibility and Talent Innovation. While Ireland scored rankings in the global top ten for Talent Innovation (9th) and Talent Participation (10th), these strengths were offset by poor performances elsewhere in the other pillars of the tracker.

A Story of Two Halves

The core opportunity Ireland has to improve is utilising its strengths to address its weaknesses, in order to further improve and invest in workforce growth.

Ireland’s best results in the tracker reflect a highly educated, engaged, and digitally-savvy workforce that is resilient and ready to meet the demands of a modern economy – a major asset for employers looking to establish here.

However, Ireland’s ranking falls sharply in the pillars of Talent Value (35th) and Talent Market Flexibility (32nd), driven by high operational costs and growing pressure on skills availability in key sectors. The findings reflect the pressures of a market nearing full employment, where rising business and wage costs present an ongoing need to enhance productivity.

Similarly, the ranking for Talent Development (20th) points to the importance of continued investment in Ireland’s education and training infrastructure to ensure it keeps producing the specialised skills required to fuel its world-class knowledge sectors into the future.

Global Context

The Hays Global Talent Tracker concludes that no country performs perfectly across all workforce dimensions, and that those at the very top also have areas for development. Even high-performing nations such as Japan, which tops the overall index, ranks lower in areas like Talent Market Flexibility (17th). This global context shows that the key is not perfection, but for each country to understand and strategically address its unique economic pressures.

Barney Ely, Senior Managing Director for Ireland at Hays, said: “The new Hays Global Talent Tracker offers valuable insights for Irish business leaders, policymakers, agencies and educational institutions. Ireland continues to benefit from a highly skilled and innovative workforce, but the findings suggest there are opportunities to strengthen our position further on the global stage.

“The report highlights the importance of ensuring that investment in talent aligns with value creation and underscores the need to continue developing the skills pipeline required for tomorrow.

“Encouragingly, the report positions Ireland as a country with strong potential to lead through innovation, adaptability, and its commitment to education and workforce development.

“At Hays, we support organisations turn insights into action by helping them build workforce strategies that enable long-term success. Our focus remains on connecting employers with talent that drives real value, ensuring Ireland remains a competitive and attractive place to do business globally.”