Assessing the quality of jobs in Northern Ireland
External event contribution Dr Lisa Wilson presentation slides to NIC-ICTU
Monday Blog: Labour Market research on the island of Ireland
The fifth all-Ireland inter-disciplinary annual Labour Market conference took place in NUI Maynooth on 12th May. The biggest such conference yet, it drew participation from trade unionists, researchers and policy analysts from across the island. An overview of the 32 presentations at the conference...
The growth of precarious work in the Republic of Ireland
The trend of rising non-standard employment across the developed world is by now, well established. Full-time permanent positions as a proportion of employment are in decline as part-time and fixed-term contracts are rising. The growth of ‘precarious’ work (often used as a blanket-term for low-wage...
Monday Blog: Are levels of social welfare payment the problem or is it something else?
‘Why don’t they get a job?’ “Isn’t social welfare making people chose ‘leisure’ over ‘work’?” ‘Aren’t social payments in Ireland way above those in the UK and elsewhere?. Only a particular perspective and frame of mind among economists, politicians or commentators trigger these sorts of questions...
Monday Blog: A bridge to a new deal
Last week, the NERI published its 21st edition of the NERI Quarterly Economic Observer . Since its first edition and foundation as a trade union associated Institute this day five years ago, the 27th March 2012, (QEO Spring 2012 ) we have continued to make the case for an enhanced programme of...
Presentation slides to Retired Workers Committee: The economic and social contribution of older people
External event contribution Dr Lisa Wilson, NERI - presentation for the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Retired Workers Seminar North/South held in ICTU Belfast office on 23rd and 24th Feburary, 2017. The presentation was on 'The economic and social contribution of oder people'.
Monday Blog: Challenges for workers in 2017
By now many a new year resolution has been ‘postponed’ until the days get a little longer! What immediate challenges arise for workers in Ireland in 2017? These are about the staple bread and butter issues of (i) Wages, (ii) Jobs .......and not forgetting pensions! Wages Wages have been remarkably...
Improving wellbeing: But what is it and who’s responsible? Northern Ireland’s new approach to governance
In Northern Ireland’s new draft Programme for Government (2016-2021) ‘wellbeing’ is embedded as the central concept on which the Executive seeks to base its new approach to governance. On the first line of the introduction to the draft document it is said that the ‘ Programme for Government is...
Monday Blog: Some dirty secrets about income and earnings
The Irish labour market is full of interesting things. What you see and hear on a daily basis is roughly in the following order of coverage starting with the most talked about: Public sector pay issues and associated matters. Number One. Public-private sector pay differences (always the number one...
Monday Blog: A note on the role of multinational companies in the Food Manufacture sector in the Republic of Ireland.
In an earlier post I contrasted some measures of productivity in food manufacture [ A Tale of Two Cities ]. The Republic of Ireland stands out as having the highest gross value added per employee in 2012 amongst EU Member States. Clearly something is odd with this. The clue lies in a further...