In this NERI Research InBrief No. 87, NERI Co-director, Paul Mac Flynn looks at the current unemployment programmes that operate in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The world of work has become more unstable and disruptive. Jobs have become less secure. The current system of unemployment payments is inadequate to the risk that workers now face. Moreover, as we begin to restructure our economy in response to the climate crisis, the level of disruption will only increase. We need to change our system. We cannot protect every job and, in many cases, we wouldn’t want to. We need to shift economic activity away from areas that harm the environment towards areas that will build sustainable prosperity. That means we need to move toward a system of Unemployment Insurance linked to people’s earnings in order to preserve living standards. While the Republic of Ireland has announced some steps in this direction, much more progress is needed. For Northern Ireland, the task is even greater.