Ronan Lyons | Personal Website
Ronan Lyons | Personal Website

labour market

Pay bill figures show the need for public service transformation

This post reviews how the wage bill changed across different sectors during 2009, using the latest CSO figures on hours worked and wages paid. Construction and finance have their own issues, but the most interesting comparison is between the public service, where the pay bill still has not fallen, and the rest of the private sector, where it has fallen by 13%. The only sustainable solution involves connecting what public service organisations do back up with how they finance what they do. Read more

It’s not raining men – Ireland at risk of becoming the opposite of China

This post reviews the latest report from the CSO on unemployment. On the up side, most sectors in Ireland have not shed a lot of jobs – losses have been concentrated in four sectors in particular. On the down side, the extreme gender disparity in unemployment – with women significantly less likely to be unemployed at all ages than men – can only be bad for Ireland in the medium term, with household formation, and the long term, with our pensions crisis. Read more

War as an economic leveller – evidence from 1910-1950

Last week, this blog won its second award, “Best in Blogging” at the 2010 Digital Media Awards. It’s an apposite time, therefore, to do a little bit of stock-taking. This post thanks those who’ve made the blog what is – especially the readership! – before launching version 2.0, which features research. The first research item presented is the Impact of World War On Labour Market Inequality: Insights from the Building Industry. Read more

Long-term unemployment must rise to top of the agenda in 2010

Of the various economic problems that face Ireland, unemployment has been the one to show least signs of turning the corner. This post reviews the latest Live Register data, and finds some crumbs of comfort in the marked slowdown in new job losses recently. It also analyses the gender and age breakdown of the Live Register in 2009, finding men under-25 have had it toughest, before offering some thoughts on growth sectors for the future. Read more