Monday Blog: The Irish economic model assessed (#1)
On this site I have made references on many occasions to the unique ‘Irish economic model’. By ‘Irish economic model’ I mean those features of an economic and social model that place the Republic of Ireland in a somewhat unique place internationally. In this week’s Monday Blog, I focus on some...
Monday Blog: Costs and benefits – in hindsight
Posted on January 22, 2017 by Tom Healy A saying from Lady Windermere’s Fan by Oscar Wilde has sometimes been applied to economists. It runs as follows: ‘A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.’ Now, the context for the quotation is a question posed by a Cecil Graham: ‘What...
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...
ICTU Union College Presentation: The Welfare State & Redistribution
External event contribution Dr Micheál Collins, Assistant Professor of Social Policy, UCD - presentation for the ICTU Union College The Welfare State and Redistribution on 16th December, 2016.
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...
Private Sector Wages
The Republic of Ireland's economy has been on a strengthening arc for the last four years with a narrowing output gap and GDP growth expected to exceed 4% in 2016. The unemployment rate fell to 7.3% in November which is is less than half of the great recession nadir of over 15%. Total employment is...
Monday Blog: We need to talk about wages
Did you know that wages – as measured by real average weekly earnings – have not increased since 2008 in the Republic of Ireland ? Never mind the Great Leap forward in GDP last year or the rapid and very welcome growth in employment (continuing to run at an annualised rate of close to 3%). A release...
Monday Blog: Budget 2017 - the good, the bad and the ugly
The draft budget for 2017 for the Republic of Ireland will now be submitted to the European Commission for approval. In the meantime, the real work in relation to the implementation of Budget 2017 proposals will involve various deliberations and discussions leading to the Finance Bill in a number of...
Monday Blog: The 'squeezed middle' ?
The squeezed middle is one of those terms that has entered popular discourse in Ireland as well as abroad. Political and media pundits refer, at ease, to the ‘squeezed middle’ who are said to have borne the brunt of the recent recession or fiscal austerity and have lost out compared to those on...