IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eso/journl/v44y2013i2p197-219.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic Crisis and the Restructuring of Wage Setting Mechanisms for Vulnerable Workers in Ireland

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas Turner

    (University of Limerick)

  • Michelle O’Sullivan

    (University of Limerick)

Abstract

The Memorandum of Understanding negotiated with the EU/IMF in 2010 committed the government to reform the Joint Labour Committee (JLC) system covering low pay workers. A significant rationale for the proposed reform was the claim that JLC regulations unduly added to the cost of labour regarding overtime rates and particularly premiums for Sunday working. Using the 2007 National Employment Survey this paper examines the structure of earnings of workers likely to be covered by the JLC system and the extent to which low pay workers benefit from overtime earnings, shift allowances and bonuses in the private sector. The evidence does not support the argument that overtime payments including Sunday premiums in sectors covered by JLCs represent a major cost to employers in general. Few workers actually benefit from the JLC overtime rates. We argue that the removal of a floor on conditions of employment provided by the JLCs may not always be in the interests of the employer but may create a race to the bottom in low pay sectors of the economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Turner & Michelle O’Sullivan, 2013. "Economic Crisis and the Restructuring of Wage Setting Mechanisms for Vulnerable Workers in Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 44(2), pages 197-219.
    • Handle: RePEc:eso:journl:v:44:y:2013:i:2:p:197-219
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.esr.ie/vol44_2/03%20Turner%20article_ESRI%20Vol%2043-41.pdf
    File Function: First version,2013
    Download Restriction: no

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ernst Fehr & Simon Gachter & Georg Kirchsteiger, 1997. "Reciprocity as a Contract Enforcement Device: Experimental Evidence," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(4), pages 833-860, July.
    2. Hibbs, Douglas A, Jr & Locking, Hakan, 2000. "Wage Dispersion and Productive Efficiency: Evidence for Sweden," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(4), pages 755-782, October.
    3. Keeney, Mary & Lawless, Martina, 2010. "Wage setting and wage flexibility in Ireland - Results from a firm-level survey," Working Paper Series 1181, European Central Bank.
    4. David Neumark & William L. Wascher, 2008. "Minimum Wages," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262141027, January.
    5. Donal O'Neill & Brian Nolan & James Williams, 2006. "Evaluating the Introduction of a National Minimum Wage: Evidence from a New Survey of Firms in Ireland," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 20(1), pages 63-90, March.
    6. Bruce E. Kaufman, 2009. "Promoting Labour Market Efficiency and Fairness through a Legal Minimum Wage: The Webbs and the Social Cost of Labour," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 47(2), pages 306-326, June.
    7. Dickens, Richard & Machin, Stephen & Manning, Alan, 1999. "The Effects of Minimum Wages on Employment: Theory and Evidence from Britain," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(1), pages 1-22, January.
    8. Tony Fang & Morley Gunderson, 2009. "Minimum Wage Impacts on Older Workers: Longitudinal Estimates from Canada," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 47(2), pages 371-387, June.
    9. Petri Böckerman & Roope Uusitalo, 2009. "Minimum Wages and Youth Employment: Evidence from the Finnish Retail Trade Sector," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 47(2), pages 388-405, June.
    10. Bhaskar, V & To, Ted, 1999. "Minimum Wages for Ronald McDonald Monopsonies: A Theory of Monopsonistic Competition," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 109(455), pages 190-203, April.
    11. Colm McLaughlin, 2009. "The Productivity-Enhancing Impacts of the Minimum Wage: Lessons from Denmark and New Zealand," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 47(2), pages 327-348, June.
    12. Oliver E. Williamson & Michael L. Wachter & Jeffrey E. Harris, 1975. "Understanding the Employment Relation: The Analysis of Idiosyncratic Exchange," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 6(1), pages 250-278, Spring.
    13. Simon Deakin & Francis Green, 2009. "One Hundred Years of British Minimum Wage Legislation," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 47(2), pages 205-213, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Colin Whitston, 2014. "The reform of Joint Labour Committees—the re-commodification of labour?," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(5), pages 409-423, September.

    More about this item

    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:eso:journl:v:44:y:2013:i:2:p:197-219. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Martina Lawless). General contact details of provider: http://www.esr.ie .

    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 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.

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.