Monday Blog: Female participation in the Irish labour market remains below EU levels
The level and quality of employment together with the distribution of skills is central to productivity. Full employment is possible provided that public policy is directed to this as an overriding priority. When some economists speak of a ‘natural rate of unemployment’ they betray an underlying...
Monday Blog: Wage inequality on the rise
Although inequality of income has taken up a lot of analytical space for many years much less attention has been given to trends in wage inequality. Last week I focussed on the share of labour in total income in the Republic of Ireland. This week I look at trends in wage inequality. Two facts stand...
Monday Blog: A worrying trend in wages
I bet you are perplexed by the title. Read on. Since the 1980s wages have declined sharply as a proportion of total income in the Republic of Ireland. While total income or production (GDP, GNI or GVA as you wish) has grown dramatically since the early 1990s the share of wages in the total cake as...
The National Living Wage - What will it mean for Northern Ireland
The National Living Wage of £7.20 will come into force from tomorrow across the UK for those aged 25 and over. This new minimum wage rate will amount to an automatic increase of 50p per hour for the coming financial year and it is set to rise to £9 per hour by 2020. There has been much discussion of...
Monday Blog: Women in the workforce, low pay and the cost of early childhood care and education.
Inequality of pay between women and men is a well documented statistical fact. But, what is the relationship between this gender gap and low pay? How is early childhood care relevant? And what are the implications for public policy and trade unions? This Blog looks at these questions in the Republic...
Income still 8%-10% below pre-crisis levels
Earlier this week a new report from the UK think-tank The Resolution Foundation estimated that UK household incomes had finally returned to their pre-crisis levels. However, the latest data on Irish income levels tell a different story. Using data from the CSO’s SILC survey, we can track median...
Minimum Wage Increase - who gains?
January 1st saw a 50 cent increase in the hourly Minimum Wage; the first since 2011. The increase to €9.15 per hour follows the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission. A recent NERI Research inBrief estimates some of the effects of this increase. Specifically, it examines the average impact on...
Monday Blog: Looking to an enterprising new year at the NERI
Happy new year! The issues of happiness, sustainability and well-being will continue to exercise our attention in 2016. Regrettably Gross Domestic Product measures only some things while neglecting others. Worse still, some components of GDP may be inflated by negative human behaviour while adding...
A Decade of Deprivation: trends 2005-2014
The recently released CSO Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) provides the most detailed insight that we have into the impact of the recent recession, and evolving recovery, on the day-to-day living standards of people and families in the Republic of Ireland. One of its indicators tracks...
Monday Blog: An insecure age
Being ‘young’ today is the same and not the same as it used to be 50 years ago. It is the same because it tends to be associated with growth, development, opportunity, challenge, rupture …. It is not the same because the world as we know it has changed dramatically in the space of two generations...