AI Hiring Explodes in Ireland

AI hiring in Ireland almost doubled between 2024 and 2025, according to PwC’s 2026 AI Jobs Barometer. The share of job postings requiring AI-related skills in Ireland reached 3.7% in 2025, up from around 2.3% in 2024.

Within that surge, AI user roles increased 84% and AI developer roles increased 73% in 2025 over 2024 levels. This acceleration reflects a broader global trend: PwC analysed more than one billion job advertisements in 27 territories including Ireland for the 2026 AI Jobs Barometer.

Irish AI Jobs Growth Outpacing Global Averages

In Ireland, jobs requiring specific AI skills are growing over five times faster since 2019 than the total jobs market. AI-related positions have grown 83% since 2019, compared to just 16% growth across the total jobs market.

Skills demands are shifting rapidly in AI-exposed roles. The top quartile of jobs exposed to AI in Ireland have seen a 4.45 times greater change in demanded skills in 2025 compared to 2019.

The Entry-Level Paradox: Growth Masks Youth Job Loss

Despite explosive AI hiring growth, young workers in Ireland are facing an employment crisis. Employment among young workers aged 15 to 29 in the tech sector fell 20% between 2023 and 2025—one of the highest rates of job stagnation in Ireland.

The picture is similarly bleak in AI-exposed sectors broadly. Employment among 15-to-29-year-olds in “at risk” sectors in Ireland declined by 1% between 2023 and 2025, even as employment continued to grow in these sectors overall.

In contrast, employment for “prime-age” workers aged 30 to 59 in Ireland grew by 12% between 2023 and 2025.

Sector-Specific Strain

High-AI risk sectors like financial services and tech in Ireland experienced significantly weaker employment growth, of only 4% between 2023 and 2025. Low-risk sectors in Ireland, such as construction or healthcare, experienced a 6.25% growth rate over the same period.

Youth unemployment in Ireland is almost at 12%, a number that has been rising since the third quarter of 2024.

What’s Changing in Entry-Level Roles

Entry-level roles most exposed to AI are now seven times more likely to require traditionally senior-level “human-intensive” skills like motivational leadership, strategic decision making and team building. Job openings for “seniorised” entry-level roles have grown 35% since 2019, while other entry-level roles shrank 10%.

Globally, roles requiring AI-related skills are associated with a global average wage premium of 62%, up from 57% last year. However, this premium does not appear to be reaching young entrants in Ireland’s labour market.

Ireland’s Intense AI Concentration

In November 2025, over 11% of all job postings in Ireland on Indeed referenced AI-related terms—around three times the level recorded in both the U.S. and Europe. About 63% of jobs in Ireland are “relatively exposed” to AI, according to a report from the Irish Department of Finance.

The Irish Department of Finance reports that “AI-related labour market adjustments have occurred mainly through changes in hiring and entry, rather than through the displacement of existing workers.” This suggests that AI is reshaping who gets hired rather than displacing existing workers—a dynamic that appears to disadvantage young people seeking entry-level positions.

Source: PwC Ireland