A broader view of labour market statistics in Northern Ireland
The unemployment rate in Northern Ireland fell below that of the UK for the 3 months to the end of June this year. This is welcome news, but as with all economic and labour market data, a quick glance never reveals the true story. While the numbers unemployed fell by 6,000, the numbers employed only...
Reforming Tax Credits in Budget 2014
Taxation options are a key context for the forthcoming Budget (October). However, given the distortionary effect of any taxation change, and the fragility of the domestic economy, any choices around raising additional tax revenues are challenging. These challenges are magnified given the notable...
Over thirty unemployed people for each vacancy
In 2012 there were 32.1 people available for work for each vacancy. Though there are some shortages for specific skills (Forfás has recently released a report on the issue), the main cause of unemployment is not a lack of people willing to work, but simply a lack of jobs. In contrast, in Germany...
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...
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...
Monday Blog: Investment is still the key
Unemployment is the biggest single problem confronting Europe today. Ireland is no exception. With one in seven out of work, here, and one in four young people either out of work or not in education or training currently we are faced with a huge challenge. President Michael D. Higgins is correct to...
Fiscal Stimulus, Unemployment and House Prices
The latest NERI seminar, from Kieran McQuinn and Robert Kelly of the Central Bank, examined the relationship between unemployment and house prices and used this relationship to examine the impact on banking defaults / mortgage defaults of economic growth. Modelling a fiscal stimulus of €2b, they...
Ireland has the lowest Tax Wedge in Europe
The tax wedge measures the difference between the total labour costs to the employer (wages + employers PRSI) and the corresponding net take-home pay for an employee (gross wages - all income taxes and PRSI). It is generally reported as a percentage of total labour costs. The latest OECD figures for...