IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp10541.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Recent Developments in the Irish Labour Market: Is It All Good News?

Author

Listed:
  • Kelly, Elish

    (ESRI, Dublin)

  • Barrett, Alan

    (ESRI, Dublin)

Abstract

Across many countries, the rise of atypical work has been noted whereby employees are increasingly in less secure contractual situations. While this might lead to more flexible labour markets, there are potential downsides for individuals. We explore the prevalence of atypical work in Ireland which provides a fascinating case-study. Ireland experienced a dramatic deterioration in its labour market around the Great Recession with unemployment rising from 4.8 percent in 2007 to 15 percent in 2012. This situation was also reversed somewhat quickly with unemployment falling to 8 percent by 2016. Such dramatic swings provide the context in which we explore whether atypical work increased for new job holders with the onset of recession and whether or not this weakened as the economy recovered. We find that atypical work did increase with the recession and, although moderating, the likelihood of new jobs being atypical persisted into the recovery. This raises important questions about whether economic recovery alone will improve job quality, in addition to jobs numbers.

Suggested Citation

  • Kelly, Elish & Barrett, Alan, 2017. "Recent Developments in the Irish Labour Market: Is It All Good News?," IZA Discussion Papers 10541, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10541
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp10541.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elish Kelly & Seamus McGuinness & Philip J O’connell & David Haugh & Alberto GonzÁlez Pandiella, 2014. "Transitions In and Out of Unemployment among Young People in the Irish Recession," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 56(4), pages 616-634, December.
    2. Duffy, David & McQuinn, Kieran & Foley, Daniel, 2016. "Quarterly Economic Commentary, Autumn 2016," Forecasting Report, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number QEC20163, June.
    3. Kelly, Elish & McGuinness, Seamus, 2015. "Impact of the Great Recession on unemployed and NEET individuals’ labour market transitions in Ireland," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 59-71.
    4. Werner Eichhorst & Verena Tobsch, 2015. "Not so standard anymore? Employment duality in Germany [Vom Normalarbeitsverhältnis zu atypischen Verträgen? Die Dualisierung des deutschen Arbeitsmarktes]," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 48(2), pages 81-95, August.
    5. McGinnity, Fran & Russell, Helen & Watson, Dorothy & Kingston, Gillian & Kelly, Elish, 2014. "Winners and Losers? The Equality Impact of the Great Recession in Ireland," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number BKMNEXT265, June.
    6. McQuinn, Kieran & Foley, Daniel & O'Toole, Conor, 2017. "Quarterly Economic Commentary, Summer 2017," Forecasting Report, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number QEC20172, June.
    7. Duffy, David & McQuinn, Kieran & Morley, Ciara, 2015. "Quarterly Economic Commentary, Autumn 2015," Forecasting Report, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number QEC20153, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elish Kelly & Alan Barrett, 2017. "Atypical Work and Ireland’s Labour Market Collapse and Recovery," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 48(4), pages 463-488.
    2. Adele Bergin & Elish Kelly & Seamus McGuinness, 2015. "Changes in labour market transitions in Ireland over the Great Recession: what role for policy?," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-18, December.
    3. Brian Nolan & Sarah Voitchovsky, 2016. "Job loss by wage level: lessons from the Great Recession in Ireland," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-29, December.
    4. Smyth, Emer & Banks, Joanne & Whelan, Adele & Darmody, Merike & McCoy, Selina, 2015. "Review of the School Completion Programme," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS44, June.
    5. Watson, Dorothy & Lawless, Martina & Maître, Bertrand, 2017. "Employment transitions among people with a disability in Ireland: an analysis of the Quarterly National Household Survey, 2010-2015," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS58, June.
    6. Elish Kelly & Adele Bergin, 2018. "The labor market in Ireland, 2000–2016," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 410-410, January.
    7. Frances McGinnity & Gillian Kingston, 2017. "An Irish Welcome? Changing Irish Attitudes to Immigrants and Immigration: The Role of Recession and Immigration," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 48(3), pages 253-279.
    8. Adele Bergin & Elish Kelly & Paul Redmond, 2020. "The labor market in Ireland, 2000–2018," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 410-410, January.
    9. Sander van Lanen, 2021. "Imagining a future in the austerity city: Anticipated futures and the formation of neoliberal subjectivities of youth in Ireland," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(8), pages 2033-2049, November.
    10. Kelly, Elish & McGuinness, Seamus, 2015. "Impact of the Great Recession on unemployed and NEET individuals’ labour market transitions in Ireland," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 59-71.
    11. Bergin, Adele & Kelly, Elish & McGuinness, Seamus, 2014. "Changes in Labour Market Transitions in Ireland over the Great Recession," Papers WP485, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    12. Vassilis Monastiriotis & Angelo Martelli, 2021. "Crisis, Adjustment and Resilience in the Greek Labor Market: An Unemployment Decomposition Approach," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 44(1), pages 85-112, January.
    13. Russell, Helen & Maitre, Bertrand & Watson, Dorothy, 2015. "Trends and Patterns in Occupational Health and Safety in Ireland," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS40, June.
    14. Ondřej Dvouletý & Martin Lukeš & Mihaela Vancea, 2020. "Individual-level and family background determinants of young adults’ unemployment in Europe," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 47(2), pages 389-409, May.
    15. Zoe Adams & Simon Deakin, 2014. "Institutional Solutions to Precariousness and Inequality in Labour Markets," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 52(4), pages 779-809, December.
    16. Daniyar T. Baitenizov & Igor N. Dubina & David F. J. Campbell & Elias G. Carayannis & Tolkyn A. Azatbek, 2019. "Freelance as a Creative Mode of Self-employment in a New Economy (a Literature Review)," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 10(1), pages 1-17, March.
    17. Lucia Mýtna Kureková & Zuzana Žilinčíková, 2016. "Are student jobs flexible jobs? Using online data to study employers’ preferences in Slovakia," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-14, December.
    18. Jeremy W Bray & Brooks Depro & Dorren McMahon & Marion Siegle & Lee Mobley, 2016. "Disconnected Geography: A Spatial Analysis of Disconnected Youth in the United States," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 317-342, September.
    19. Reinhold, Mario & Thomsen, Stephan L., 2017. "The changing situation of labor market entrants in Germany : a long-run analysis of wages and occupational patterns," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 50(1), pages 161-174.
    20. Lawless, Martina & O’Toole, Conor & Slaymaker, Rachel, 2018. "Estimating an SME investment gap and the contribution of financing frictions," Papers WP589, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    part-time; temporary contracts; atypical work; recession;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts
    • J48 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Particular Labor Markets; Public Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10541. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.