Income: The Gender Divide
There are many measures examining differences in various socio-economic characteristics among men and women. In general, women are better educated, healthier, live longer but earn less - factors which in themselves point towards gaps in societal equality for both sexes. Focusing just on income, it...
Revisions to UK GDP Growth
The ONS yesterday released the third estimate of GDP figures for the first quarter of 2013 where growth was revised down from 0.6% to 0.3%. The revisions to recent historical data also erased the "double-dip" recession that was thought to have occurred in in the first quarter of 2012. Growth in 2012...
Monday Blog: We need a change of course and we need it now
While caution is always advisable in examining the latest quarterly data, the release by the Central Statistics Office of the latest quarterly national accounts was something of a wake-up call to those eager for news of a recovery. The Republic of Ireland is in a deep stagnation. The downturn has...
Quarterly Economic Observer - Summer 2013 - "A Jobs-rich approach to Budgetary Policy"
A recovery of growth in output and in total employment is likely to be very slow in both economies of Ireland over the coming two years. Economic activity remains depressed in some of the key trading partners and continuing fiscal austerity coupled with high levels of private debt are taking their...
Quarterly Economic Facts - Summer 2013
Recent years have seen a huge growth in the supply, range and timeliness of data from a variety of official agencies including the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), Eurostat, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)...
Ireland’s Investment Crisis: Diagnosis and Prescription
Ireland’s post-2007 economic crisis has given rise to persistently and historically low rates of investment, high unemployment, large public and private sector debt overhangs, tight fiscal constraints, and a breakdown in financial intermediation. Lack of investment by the domestic private and public...
Changing Reasons for Economic Inactivity
Northern Ireland has historically always had a higher rate of economic inactivity than either the Republic of Ireland or any of the other 11 regions of the United Kingdom. While the overall rate of economic inactivity has actually reduced somewhat over the crisis from 2008, it still remains above...
Employment increases, incomes squeezed
Employment figures for the UK published today show a small return to growth in employment in the last three months to April this year. The increase in employment has been mainly due to a large increase in employment among older workers, many of pension age, and it is not clear whether this is by...
Labour costs in accommodation and food sector equal to Spain's
Not only did we recently have weather like the Spanish, labour costs were too. The latest data from Eurostat (the European Statistics Agency) show that Irish labour costs in the Accommodation and Food sector are equal to those of Spain. Adjusting for the cost of living Irish labour costs are even...