Quite an interesting statistic.
Over seven out of 10 (73%) Irish workers have considered relocating to a different county in pursuit of a better lifestyle or more promising career opportunities.
New research by Irish recruitment website Jobs.ie found that Irish workers would be tempted to leave their own county if there was more promising possibilities elsewhere.
Within Ireland, the research found that Galway (48%), Cork (40%) and Dublin (36%) are currently proving to be the most desirable locations overall.
In Ireland, the majority (60%) of IT professionals surveyed are currently based in Dublin, with multinational technology companies like Google, Facebook, Salesforce and LinkedIn all being based in the capital.
However, the desire to relocate amongst tech professionals is high, with over 74% of IT professionals open to relocating to another county.
The majority of those within the industry ranked Cork (54%) and Galway (50.3%) among the most desirable locations ahead of Dublin (32%).
Work/life balance (56.8%) proved to be the top motivator for relocation among IT professionals followed by a change in lifestyle (52.2%) and better housing options (50.7%).
For graduates, the reasons for choosing their work location differs greatly, with future career prospects (68%) and wanting to work for a specific company (39%) placing among their top considerations.
Once again, Dublin (64%), Cork (50%) and Galway (43%) came in as the top locations for work graduates.
Commenting on the report’s findings, Christopher Paye, General Manager at Jobs.ie said:
"As the survey suggests, the days of sacrificing your desired lifestyle to suit your line of work are evolving. Instead, employees are more focused on ensuring that the role they choose complements the lifestyle that they want, and the majority are more than willing to relocate to achieve this.
"Counties that were possibly once considered ‘undesirable’ in comparison to the bright lights of cities like Cork, Dublin and Galway are now attractive locations for many highly skilled professionals.
"This is to be welcomed by everyone. It is good news for employers in rural Ireland and it also reduces the dependency on the Dublin economy and the infrastructural strain on Dublin housing stock."
