The Department of Enterprise has issued a record number of work permits this year after clearing a backlog of applications built up during the pandemic.
early 38,000 permits for non-EEA nationals have been approved in the year to date, which is more than double the total for 2021.
At the current rate of approximately 3,500 permits being issued monthly, the State is on course to authorize well over 40,000 workers this year.
That figure significantly exceeds the previous peak reached in 2008, when 29,394 permits were issued on the verge of the deep recession that followed the financial crisis.
The big increase in permit issuance comes as post-Covid labor shortages have pushed unemployment down to just 4.4pc – close to a two-decade low – and forced firms to look for foreign workers to plug staff gaps.
The technology, health and agriculture sectors are the biggest users of the work-permit system, accounting for more than half of approved applications this year. Amazon and Google are among the companies that rely on permitted workers the most.
Despite getting more than 10,000 permits this year, the IT sector is nevertheless in the midst of shedding thousands of jobs in Ireland as part of a global tech slowdown that has affected some of the country’s biggest employers.
Meta, which is reportedly cutting 900 positions in Ireland, received just 37 work permits this year for its Facebook business, none of them later than April.
Many of the permits being issued this year come from a backlog of 10,900 applications that grew out of control in 2021. This was due to increased demand as well as Covid disruptions to department staffing and workflow.
Fewer than 1,000 applications from that bundle remain outstanding, according to a Department spokesperson.
The spokesperson said waiting time in the permit queue has improved from as much as 21 weeks last year to just three-to-eight days in 2022.
Employment permits are only granted for roles that cannot be filled from the available labor pool in Ireland and the rest of the EEA.
Minister for Business and Employment Damien English said in July that the Government would introduce legislation to simplify the system
The reforms will include seasonal permits, a simpler needs test and revised approval criteria to speed up the processing of applications.