EMPLOYERS IN IRELAND are increasingly looking for “low- and medium-skilled” migrant workers, with the demand outpacing higher-skilled migrant workers for the first time in almost a decade.

The figures, detailed in a report by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), come as the research body warns that Ireland faces “worker shortages” across a range of sectors, including health, social care and construction.

The ESRI noted that the number of employment permits issued or renewed has “more than doubled” since 2021, following several policy changes that made it easier for Irish employers to recruit non-EEA workers.

Under the terms of the permit system, jobs that fall under General Employment Permits include healthcare, social care, agriculture, hospitality, transport and the fisheries sector.

There must be annual pay of approximatley €36,600, while there is a mandatory advertising process of four weeks before a roll can be filled by a non-EEA worker.

The health and social care sector accounted for the largest share of employment permits in 2025, at 26%, followed by information and communication activities (ICT) at 12% and accommodation and food services at 11%.

However, when compared to 2021, non-EEA recruitment has doubled in the likes of the construction sector, as Ireland has sought to address its housing crisis. Its share jumped to 6%.

Up to 160,000 employment permits have been issued or renewed to non-EEA (European Economic Area) workers in the past four years, coming to between 30,000 and 40,000 each year.

The new report from the European Migration Network Ireland has been published by the ESRI (co-funded by the European Union and the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration) and examines trends in employment permits issued, recent legislative changes, and challenges faced by employers and migrant workers when navigating non-EEA recruitment.

The different types of permits on offer

Slightly more General Employment Permits were issued than Critical Skills Employment Permits in 2024, the first time since 2016 that employers sought low- and medium-skilled workers more from abroad.

Critical Skills Employment Permits are issued to workers who are highly skilled and/or in particularly high demand, while General Employment Permits may be issued in most occupations following a labour market needs test.

These permits are granted to certain non-EEA nationals where employers struggle to find suitable Irish or EEA workers to fill vacant posts.

Among the changes taken in recent years to make it easier for employers to recruit from outside the EEA were the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment expanding the list of eligible occupations across healthcare and construction.

These changes were made after recurring difficulties in finding suitable workers for these areas in Ireland.

Indian nationals accounted for the largest share of employment permits (32%), followed by Brazilian and Filipino nationals at 11% each. These trends are largely consistent with previous years.

Overall, a total of 8,328 companies recruited non-EEA workers in 2025.

The ESRI noted that over half of these companies sponsored “just a single employment permit”, which it said suggested that recruitment through the employment permit system is being widely used, even when employers recruit only a few non-EEA workers.

Ada Sophia Hahn, an author of the report, said that the strong uptake in employment permits shows the “growing importance of non-EEA migrant workers” in meeting Ireland’s demand for labour across healthcare, construction and ICT services.

Challenges facing the system

However, the ESRI was concerned that retention of migrant workers is low across employment permit holder groups.

This was especially so for critical skills workers, who may see their non-EU qualifications go unrecognised, with the ESRI outlining that many of these workers leave Ireland after a few years.

Hahn, the report’s co-author, said that “consistently low retention rates would be a concern, as it could undermine the effectiveness of the employment permit system” in Ireland.

For some other employment permit holders, especially lower-skilled workers, they “experience mistreatment and labour exploitation” – this can range from being made to work for too many hours each day to being paid less than agreed.

A way of improving conditions has been a Reactivation Employment Permit, which allows holders to legally re-enter the labour market where they have lost their job due to exploitation by their employer. The same permit applies where a migrant worker has lost their job due to redundancy.

Improving rights awareness and increasing the number of inspectors at the Workplace Relations Commission could help address this.

“Ensuring that the employment permit system is effective and fair matters not only to employers and migrant workers, but also to Irish society at large as it could impact the delivery of public services,” Hahn said.

The report found praise from the sector for several good practices, including new changes that grant migrant workers greater job flexibility after nine months on their initial employment permit.

Also coming in for praise was how some family members of General Employment Permit holders have been able to benefit from immediate labour market access as of 2024 and 2025.