A new review into skills shortage in Ireland has indicated that there are a group of sectors in which the country could do with more talent.

The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs discovered that the ICT, engineering, healthcare, finance and customer care industries are all lacking an abundance of trained workers to fill vacancies.

Deterioration in employment in Ireland is also down, the report found, with growth in the rate of unemployment slowing throughout 2010, but these sectors are still finding it hard to fill their positions.

Minister for training and skills Ciarán Cannon said, "While it is hard to reconcile high unemployment with skills shortages it is critical that we maintain our focus on ensuring that our labour force is equipped with the skills for current and future jobs."

The Liver Register from the Central Statistics Office in Ireland recently reported that standardised unemployment rose to 14.2 per cent in the country in June.

Posted by Alex Donnell