Salary growth across a range of professional careers has slowed sharply across the Irish labour market, with median permanent salary movement ranging from a largely flat to 2% with increases tracking at or below inflation, recruitment firm Morgan McKinley has said. However, outside of these areas, salary growth has “effectively stalled”. Salary growth in this area has “largely plateaued”, with most permanent roles seeing increases of between zero and 2%. Salary growth across the sector has averaged 2%-3%. Salary growth in the legal, risk and compliance has cooled to modest levels as firms focus on retention through flexibility, culture and workload management rather than pay escalation.

Source: Irish Examiner February 19, 2026 00:09 UTC