Low Pay &Low Income: some insights on ‘The Working Poor’
Earlier this year Eurostat, the EU Statistics Agency, released data on the number of low-paid workers in Ireland and across the EU. Their analysis defines low-earnings in relative terms measured as those earning two thirds or less of the national median gross hourly earnings. Median earnings are the...
Once again, Unemployment not the full picture
Figures released today showed a further drop in unemployment of 5,000 in Northern Ireland over the last three months, bringing the unemployment rate down to 7.3% as opposed to 7.7% for the UK as a whole. While some may take comfort from these figures, as this blog has pointed out before, the full...
Monday Blog: Assessing the impact of Budget 2014
An economist was once asked to assess the impacts of the French Revolution of 1789 to which she replied 'it is too early to say yet'. Budget 2014 may very well fall into this category. In some ways like an impressionist painting in the Art Gallery the viewer has to stand back and ponder it all. Much...
Retraining and Activating the Distant Unemployed (paper)
External event contribution p>Across Europe the socio-economic impact of the recent recession has left no greater scar than on the labour market and in particular on the large numbers who have found themselves long-term unemployed. Over that period Ireland rapidly moved from full-employment (4%) to high unemployment (almost 14...
Long-term unemployment stable as a share of total unemployment
The share of long-term unemployed in the Republic of Ireland, as a share of total unemployment, has remained stable. Over the past year unemployment has be trending downward due to a combination of job creation, migration, and statistical alterations made by the Central Statistics Office. If the...
Retraining and activating the ‘distant unemployed’:
External event contribution Presentation to the International Working Party on Labour Market Segmentation, 34th Annual Conference, Trinity College Dublin - September 13th 2013.
Irish labour costs amongst lowest in Western Europe
Ireland's labour costs in the business economy continue to be amongst the lowest in Western Europe. Labour costs differ from wages in that they also include other costs faced by employers such as PRSI. Therefore labour costs are a far more relevant way to compare competitiveness across countries...
Monday Blog: A welcome (if modest) increase in employment
The publication, recently, by the Central Statistics Office of results from their Quarterly National Household Survey for the year to June 2013 has provided a welcome respite to the generally negative employment news since the beginning of 2008. Employment is now increasing across most sectors and...
Understanding Earnings - a key context for policy formation
As we move towards another austerity budget (October 2013) it is useful to consider Government's choices in the context of the structure of earnings. Despite its relevance, limited attention tends to be given to the distribution of earnings and income in the formation of policy options and decisions...