Earlier this week, the OECD launched their preliminary review of the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs. The review rightly complements the significant labour market progress of recent years – a point we highlight in the most recent NERI Quarterly Economic Observer. There we anticipate unemployment...

Some years ago a fellow economist queried why economic inequality is a problem. He suggested that people are born with different endowments of talent and opportunity and a degree of social difference in outcomes is not only natural but good as a spur for economic performance. In any case, he argued...

As with buses, in Northern Ireland you wait and wait for economic statistics and then two come at once. Today the figures for the Northern Ireland Composite Economic Index were released. The NICEI is the latest attempt by statisticians to come up with a figure for economic growth in Northern Ireland...

The April NERI seminar took place this afternoon in the INTO Learning Centre. Tom Healy provided an overview of a recent paper, co authored with Austin Delaney, " We need to talk about Higher Education ". The paper argues the current model of funding for higher education is unsustainable. It...

Last week the Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions held its Biennial Delegate conference in Derry. Over 230 delegates attended to debate a wide range of motions and issues. The detailed programme and accompanying documentation is available here . The economy report (pages...

A new paper ( available here) highlights some of the most prominent features of the Irish labour market; a polarised labour market with relatively low labour market participation for women. The implication for this is that, by increasing labour market access for women, roughly 65,000 jobs could be...

Why indeed? Data published by the CSO and OECD show much better earnings and employment outcomes for third level graduates. The cost of providing higher education is not small. At approximately €9,000 on average per student per annum the true total cost varies by location, type of course and field...