Time to think about the type of Ireland we want to live in
The impact of the various austerity measures over recent years has been, and continues to be, felt by families in every corner of the country. Whether it is pay, public services or social welfare; all measures point towards a drop in living standards that has been hard felt. Recent data from the CSO...
New data on Ireland's 'working poor'
The recently released CSO SILC report offers an updated insight into the composition of those living below the poverty line in Ireland. That line equalled €203.50 per week for an individual and €338 per week for a couple in 2012 (the year of the most recent data). Overall 16.5% of the population...
Labour Market conference held in UCC
On 1st May 2014 the NERI held a labour market conference in association with the UCC School of Economics. The conference included presentations from labour market experts working in academia, public institutions, and the trade unions. The NERI would like to thank all those who took part, and those...
Monday Blog: The lower paid
Eurostat – the official Statistical Agency of the European Union measures low pay as ‘ those employees earning two thirds or less of the national median earning ’. In 2010, at 20.7% Ireland (Republic) had the 10thhighest rate of low pay as measured by Eurostat. By contrast, Sweden had a rate of 2.5%...
On the Generosity of Ireland's Welfare System
Earlier this week, the OECD launched their preliminary review of the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs. The review rightly complements the significant labour market progress of recent years – a point we highlight in the most recent NERI Quarterly Economic Observer. There we anticipate unemployment...
Mixed signals from the NI Labour Market
As with buses, in Northern Ireland you wait and wait for economic statistics and then two come at once. Today the figures for the Northern Ireland Composite Economic Index were released. The NICEI is the latest attempt by statisticians to come up with a figure for economic growth in Northern Ireland...
Funding Options for Higher Education
The April NERI seminar took place this afternoon in the INTO Learning Centre. Tom Healy provided an overview of a recent paper, co authored with Austin Delaney, " We need to talk about Higher Education ". The paper argues the current model of funding for higher education is unsustainable. It...
Monday Blog: Investment, Jobs, Young Workers, Living Wage
Last week the Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions held its Biennial Delegate conference in Derry. Over 230 delegates attended to debate a wide range of motions and issues. The detailed programme and accompanying documentation is available here . The economy report (pages...
Improving women's access to the labour market could create 65,000 jobs
A new paper ( available here) highlights some of the most prominent features of the Irish labour market; a polarised labour market with relatively low labour market participation for women. The implication for this is that, by increasing labour market access for women, roughly 65,000 jobs could be...