Despite ongoing economic pressures, Ireland’s construction pipeline remains robust. Explore key hiring trends, salary ranges, and the impact of sustainability and green building initiatives on job opportunities for the remainder of 2025.

Construction & Property Hiring Trends for H2 2025: Salaries, Skills & Growth Areas

Housing Supply Pressure

The residential housing market is under significant pressure due to supply falling short of demand. The government initially targeted 40,000 homes for 2025, but projections now suggest completions will struggle to reach 35,000. This shortfall highlights the urgency of the government’s €6 billion housing investment and the goal to deliver 303,000 homes by 2030. Progress depends on overcoming structural barriers such as labour shortages, rising construction costs, and planning bottlenecks. Recent regulatory changes to ease apartment standards and prioritise timber construction show adaptability, but the gap between policy and delivery remains wide.

Labour Shortages

Labour shortages threaten momentum across the construction sector, affecting general labourers, skilled trades, engineers, and project managers. An estimated 120,000 additional workers may be needed by 2030 for housing, infrastructure, and energy projects. Reliance on overseas contractors and deployment of Irish firms abroad further tightens the domestic labour pool. Efforts to scale up apprenticeships and fast-track training are underway but unlikely to close the gap in the short term.

Hiring Challenges

Recruitment conditions remain extremely competitive. Candidates open to moving roles often receive multiple offers, while employers are regularly forced into bidding wars to retain staff. Salary increases of 15–20% are now commonplace. In this environment, attracting and retaining top talent is less about job availability and more about value alignment, career growth, and flexibility. For employers, the true cost of replacement is being felt not only in salary terms, but in the disruption to delivery and continuity on critical projects. One trend we see emerging is project completion bonuses to aide retention.