At the close of 2022, Cork Chamber asked members about their experience of the most recent business quarter, Q4 2022 (October, November, December). This Economic Trends Q4 2022 captures a snapshot of business experiences and of the overall operating landscape at the close of 2022 in a period which saw ongoing challenges with the rising cost of energy and inflation and a change of government leadership. The Q4 survey again asked about the ongoing business impact of rising energy costs and inflation to track business sentiment across quarter 3 and quarter 4 2022.

"Although the level of business concern has tempered, it remains high with almost three quarters of businesses still concerned about the rising energy costs. This, coupled with the fact that 50% of our business respondents report that government supports may not be sufficient in cushioning the rising cost of energy is a threat to the buoyancy of our economy,"

Ronan Murray, Cork Chamber President.

It is a concern that 50% of businesses did not believe the supports had been sufficient. With high energy costs likely to continue to affect businesses into 2023, business supports will need to be revisited and reinforced by government, scheme expansion and alignment with EU support schemes is needed.

This is a marked increase in confidence in the Irish economy from 47% in Q3 to 66% at the close of Q4. Falling confidence had been a consistent trend in 2022, so this U-turn in sentiment is a very positive signal heading into 2023.

Businesses continued to hire strongly in Q4 with 40% of companies increasing their headcount. In Q4 57% of companies reported advertisement of current open vacancies. This figure was 49% in the same period the previous year Q4 2021.

Barriers to filling vacancies such as a specialist skills shortage (65%) and housing (14%) need to be addressed. We are keen to continue to work closely with government to address the any bottlenecks that exist, which could constrain business expansion and investment,”

Ronan Murray, President, Cork Chamber

View more stats and results from our latest Economic Trends, which capture a snapshot of business experiences and of the overall operating landscape at the close of 2022 in a period which saw ongoing challenges with the rising cost of energy and inflation and a change of government leadership.

Cork Simon Community is this quarter's nominated charity to receive a €200 gift card.