Home > Research > Research Areas > Labour Market
1

Labour Market
Labour market research in the ESRI is wide-ranging in nature and has largely been responsive to emerging issues within the Irish economy and society.

Current labour market research focuses on:

  • Assessing the Impact of the economic downturn on labour market conditions and behaviour.
  • Evaluating the effectiveness of labour market activation policies in Ireland.
  • Assessing the impact of skill gaps and skill shortages on firm-level productivity and earnings.
  • Analysing the determinants and implications of skill mismatches in Europe.
  • Differentials in both pay and access to training opportunities among migrants in Ireland.
  • The impact of education and training on employment and earnings.

Some Recently Completed Projects


The Evaluation of Activation Policies in Ireland
We have recently completed a large scale evaluation of the National Employment Action Plan, which is Ireland’s principal policy mechanism for reducing unemployment (Activation in Ireland: An Evaluation of the National Employment Action Plan). The work involved a detailed analysis of a longitudinal dataset constructed from several administrative data sources. The research, which was commissioned by the Department of Social Protection (DSP), highlighted the need for a more rigorous and systematic activation approach in Ireland, and the necessity for a greater integration of the unemployment activation and benefit functions in Ireland.  

Developing a Statistical Profiling Model for Ireland
The report on National Profiling of the Unemployed in Ireland was published in 2009. This project, carried out in partnership with the Department of Social Protection, analysed the behaviour of more than 45,000 unemployed claimants. The objective was to isolate the principal risk factors that would enable policy makers to identify those claimants, when they fist become unemployed, at greatest risk of entering long-term unemployment. This project is particularly relevant at a time of a deteriorating labour market. The profiling model, based on this research, is currently in the process of being implemented in DSP offices across Ireland.
The International Social Security Association (ISSA) awarded a certificate of merit for the ESRI's work with the DSP in developing the customer Profiling model to assist in Case Management and Activation.  Download full document (pdf).

Labour Market Studies based on the National Employment Survey
Direct access to the micro-data from the large-scale National Employment Surveys has made possible a wide range of work on a number of policy relevant topics, including
i) the gender wage gap, ii) the impact of labour market institutions on earnings and productivity, iii) the public-private sector wage gap and iv) the experiences of migrants in the Irish labour market. Based on this data, researchers have recently published work (or have papers forthcoming) in international academic journals such as Industrial Relations (Berkeley), The British Journal of Industrial Relations, The European Journal of Industrial Relations, The Journal of Labor Research and The Economic and Social Review.

Future Labour Market Research


Future labour market research will build on existing work and focus on emerging issues such as:

  • Employment and unemployment in the recession and, in particular, the issue of structural unemployment.
  • Transitions to employment from unemployment, education and training.
  • Human capital, the knowledge economy and social progress.
  • Labour and skill shortages and their economic impact.
  • Labour market institutions.
  • Equality, including gender, disability, immigrant workers.

Programme Coordinator: Philip O’Connell and Seamus McGuinness.

Members of staff who work in this area include: Adele Bergin, Tim Callan, Claire Keane, Elish Kelly, Pete Lunn, Selina McCoy, Frances McGinnity, and Helen Russell.