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Abstract:
This paper applies the familiar theoretical distinction between general and specific training to the empirical task of estimating the returns to in-company training. Using a firm-level dataset which distinguishes between general and specific training, we test for the relative effects of the two types of training on productivity growth. We find that although general training has a statistically positive effect on productivity growth, no such effect is observable for specific training. This positive effect of general training remains when we control for factors such as changes in work organization and corporate re-structuring, firm size and the initial level of human capital in the enterprise. Moreover, the impact of general training varies positively with the level of capital investment.

Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to review what has been learned about Irish migration from the work of social scientists, largely economists. For most of its modern history, Ireland has experienced large net outflows. I discuss how the outflow was made up of lower skilled people up until the 1980s but how more recent outflows have contained more highly skilled people. Over time, the outflow has also shown shifts in its gender make-up and in the destinations of those leaving. I review the work that has been done exploring the causes of the outflow. Generally, the low level of economic development in Ireland has been responsible; however, year to year fluctuations in the size of the outflows are associated with relative changes in Irish and British labour market conditions. Finally, I consider the work that has examined the effect of the large-scale outflows. While some have argued that the low level of development was partly a consequence of emigration, other work has shown that emigration helped to improve Irish living standards. I end with the observation that the research agenda is now changing as development, and net inflows, have emerged.

Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is two-fold. We firstly produce a labour market profile of non-Irish immigrants who arrived in Ireland in the ten years to 2003. We then go on to use the labour market profile in estimating the impact of immigration (non-Irish) on the Irish labour market. Immigrants are shown to be a highly educated group. However, they are not all employed in occupations that fully reflect their education levels. The model of the labour market that we use to simulate the impact of immigration differentiates between low-skilled and high-skilled labour. This allows us to estimate the impact of immigrants (a) if they were employed at a level fitting their education and (b) if they were employed in occupations below their educational level. Our results show that under scenario (a) immigrants who arrived between 1993 and 2003 increased GNP by between 3.5 and 3.7%, largely by lowering skilled wages by around 6% and increasing Ireland's competitiveness. Under scenario (b), the increase in GNP is reduced to 3% because the impact on skilled wages is lower. If we assume the immigration is primarily unskilled, the impact on earnings inequality is reversed.

immigrants, immigrant characteristics, immigrant impacts, Ireland

Abstract:
Increasing earnings inequality has been an important feature of the US and UK labour markets in recent years. The increase appears to be related to an increased demand for skilled labour and an increase in the returns to education. In this paper we examine what has happened to earnings inequality and the returns to education in Ireland between 1987 and 1997. We find that while both increased between 1987 and 1994, the increases slowed dramatically between 1994 and 1997. This is somewhat surprising as the exceptional growth in the Irish economy occurred from 1994 on. We look to immigration as being a contributing factor to this pattern because a large group of skilled workers flowed into the Irish labour market between 1994 and 1997. We develop a model of the Irish labour market and use it to simulate the impact of an increase in skilled labour. The simulation suggests that immigration did indeed reduce earnings inequality. This result is an interesting corollary to work from the US that shows the immigration of unskilled workers increasing earnings inequality.

Earnings inequality, returns to education, immigration, Ireland

Abstract:
Ireland has experienced a remarkable change in its migratory patterns in recent years and has moved from experiencing large-scale emigration to receiving significant inflows. In this paper, we use data from a nationally representative sample of immigrants and natives drawn in 2005 to assess the occupational attainment of immigrants in Ireland relative to natives. It is found that immigrants, on average, are less likely to be in high-level occupations controlling for factors such as age and education. When looked at by year of arrival, it appears as if immigrants who arrived more recently have lower occupational attainment relative to earlier arrivals, thereby suggesting a process of integration. However, a closer analysis shows that the observation of better occupational attainment for earlier arrivals can be explained by a change in the national origin mix of Ireland's immigrants, with immigrants from the New Member States of the European Union having the lowest occupational attainment. Within national groups there is generally no clear evidence of improved occupational attainment over time.

immigrants, labour market integration, Ireland

Abstract:
Higher rates of economic growth in recent years have led Ireland from being a country characterized by emigration to one where population inflows have become an important issue. This paper contains an analysis of one element of the current inflow. Drawing on data collected in 1998 on over 800 Irish individuals who had graduated from Irish colleges in 1992, we compare the wages of returned migrants with the wages of those who stayed in Ireland. In a recent paper, it has been argued that returned migrants accumulate skills and competencies while away that are rewarded on return to the home country. We find support for this argument for men. On average, returning males earn 10 percent more than men who stayed in Ireland, controlling for a range of factors. However, men who say that they originally migrated for labour-related reasons earn 15 percent more. No wage premium is found for female returning migrants relative to female stayers.

Abstract:
This paper has three objectives. First, a review of the developing body of work on the economics of immigration in Ireland is provided. Second, the analysis undertaken by Barrett and McCarthy (forthcoming) of earnings of immigrants in Ireland is updated. Third, the earnings of immigrant women are assessed to see if they experience a "double disadvantage". Among other findings, the review of the emerging literature points to immigrants faring less well in the Irish labour market relative to native employees. As regards the analysis conducted in this paper, we find that immigrants were earning 15 percent less than comparable natives employees in 2005. For immigrants from non-English speaking countries, the wage disadvantage was 20 percent. The corresponding figure for immigrants from the EU's New Member States was 31 percent. A double disadvantage is found for immigrant women, with the earnings of female immigrants found to be 14 percent less than those of comparable native female employees. This double disadvantage is concentrated among female immigrants with third level degrees.

immigrants' earnings, Ireland

Abstract:
Ireland's exceptional economic growth in recent years has led to an influx of immigrants. Given the favorable economic climate into which these immigrants are arriving, it is interesting to ask how their earnings and welfare dependence compare with the native population. Using data from a nationally representative sample drawn in 2004 immigrants are found to earn 18 per cent less than natives, controlling for education and years of work experience. However, this single figure hides differences across immigrants from English-speaking and non-English-speaking countries. On average, immigrants are half as likely to have been in receipt of social welfare payments in the previous 12 months relative to natives.

Abstract:
Ireland's exceptional economic growth in recent years has led to an influx of immigrants. Given the favourable economic climate into which these immigrants are arriving, it is interesting to ask how their earnings and welfare dependence compare with the native population. To the extent that strong economic growth produces good labour market opportunities for immigrants, earnings disadvantages may be lessened and any tendency towards welfare dependence may be reduced. Data from a nationally representative sample drawn in 2004 are used to assess the earnings of immigrants in Ireland relative to the native population and also the rate of welfare receipt across the two groups. Immigrants are found to earn 18 percent less than natives, controlling for education and years of work experience. However, this single figure hides differences across immigrants from English-speaking and non-English speaking countries. We also find evidence of a wage gap for immigrants with third level educations, relative to comparable natives. On average, immigrants are half as likely to have been in receipt of social welfare payments in the previous twelve months relative to natives. A difference in welfare participation remains when we control for the higher education attainment of immigrants.

immigrants' earnings, immigrants' welfare participation, Ireland

Abstract:
This paper provides, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of the journal article output of Irish-based economists over a 30-year period. Using EconLit data, and supplementing where necessary, we provide details of the journals wherein Irish-based economists have published, provide details of the publishing histories of high volume publishers and discuss the evolving productivity profile of Irish-based economists. Our evidence shows that in general Irish-based economists have greatly increased the levels of output in the 1990's, but that this may have been at the expense of quality.

economics, productivity, academics

Abstract:
The primary purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the papers within the economics literature that have examined the questions of immigrant welfare use and the responsiveness of immigrants to the incentives created by welfare systems. While our focus is largely on papers looking at the European case, we also draw on studies from the United States, in particular on issues where the European literature is thin. One set of papers asks whether immigrants who are more likely to use welfare are attracted to more generous welfare states. The results from these papers are not clear-cut. Another set of papers asks if immigrants use welfare more intensively than natives and if they assimilate out of or into welfare participation. In most cases, the unadjusted data shows higher use of welfare by immigrants although for some countries, for example Germany, this difference can be explained by differences in characteristics. Yet another set of papers finds that the rate of welfare use by existing migrants can influence the welfare use of newly arrived co-nationals. We illustrate some of these issues by looking at immigrant welfare use in Ireland and the UK. Immigrants in the UK appear to use welfare more intensively than natives but the opposite appears to be the case in Ireland.

immigrants, welfare participation, Ireland, U.K.

Abstract:
As the movement of population from the New Member States (NMS) of the EU to the older members is a relatively new flow, it is important to build up our knowledge of who is moving within Europe and how they are performing in their destinations. In this paper, we analyse the earnings of immigrants in Ireland from the NMS using a new large-scale dataset on employees in Ireland. In so doing, we add to the emerging strand in the literature on immigrant earnings that looks beyond average earnings differentials and considers variations in such differentials across the earnings and skills distributions. We do this partly by using quantile regressions and also by analyzing earnings differentials within educational categories. We find that the average earnings difference between immigrants from the NMS and natives is between 10 percent and 18 percent, depending on the controls used. However, the difference is found to be either non-existent or low for people with low skill levels and for people at the lower end of the earnings distribution. The difference is higher for those at the upper ends of the skills and earnings distributions. This suggests that the transferability of human capital is a crucial determinant of the immigrant-native earnings gap for NMS immigrants in Ireland.

immigrant earnings, Ireland, new member states, quantile regression

Abstract:
Ireland, along with Sweden and the UK, allowed full access to its labour market to the citizens of the accession countries when the EU enlarged in May 2004. Given the limited number of countries that opened up and the rapid pace of economic growth in Ireland around 2004, a significant inflow was expected. However, the rate of inflow exceeded all expectations. Based on census information, the number of EU10 nationals living in Ireland grew from around 10,000 in 2002 to 120,000 in 2006. Data on inflows suggests that this number could have reached 200,000 by 2008 or 4.5 percent of the population. The EU10 immigrants have very high employment rates and also have levels of education that are comparable to the native labour force in Ireland. However, they appear to earn considerably less than the native labour force and also to be in lower grade occupations. They have impacted positively on the Irish economy in terms of GNP growth. This is because wages grew more slowing in Ireland than would otherwise have been the case as a result of the labour supply increase brought about by this immigration flow.

EU enlargement, EU new member states, Ireland, immigration

Abstract:
Much has been written about the labour market outcomes for immigrants in their host countries, particularly with regard to earnings, employment and occupational attainment. However, much less attention has been paid to the question of whether immigrants are as likely to receive employer-provided training relative to comparable natives. As such training should be crucial in determining the labour market success of immigrants in the long run it is a critically important question. Using data from a large scale survey of employees in Ireland, we find that immigrants are less likely to receive training from employers, with immigrants from the New Member States of the EU experiencing a particular disadvantage. The immigrant training disadvantage arises in part from a failure on the part of immigrants to get employed by training-oriented firms. However, they also experience a training disadvantage relative to natives within firms where less training is provided.

immigrants, employer-provided training, Ireland

Abstract:
Much research has been conducted on immigration into Ireland in recent years using data from the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS), the official source for labour market data in Ireland. As it is known that the QNHS undercounts immigrants in Ireland, a concern exists over whether the profile of immigrants being provided is accurate. For example, QNHS-based research has shown that immigrants in Ireland are a highly educated group. However, if it is the case that those who are missed by the QNHS are more heavily drawn from among low-skilled immigrants, then the profile being reported and used in other research may be inaccurate. In this paper, we use the Irish Census of 2006 to assess the reliability of the profile of immigrants provided by the QNHS by comparing the characteristics of immigrants in both datasets. In general, we find that the QNHS does indeed provide a reliable picture and that earlier findings on the education levels of immigrants in Ireland hold.

migration research, census, household survey, Ireland

Abstract:
We estimate the impact of immigration on the wages of natives in Ireland applying the technique proposed by Borjas (2003). Under this method, the labour market is divided into a number of skill cells, where the cells are defined by groups with similar levels of experience and education (or experience and occupation). Regression analysis is then employed to assess whether the average wages of natives across skill cells is affected by the share of immigrants across cells. When the cells are based on education/experience, our results suggest a negative relationship between native wages and immigrant shares. However, the opposite appears to hold when the cells are based on occupation/experience. These contradictory findings suggest that care should be exercised when applying this method as inaccurate impressions of the impact of immigration on wages may arise.

wages, immigration, Ireland

Abstract:
The primary purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the papers within the economics literature that have examined the questions of immigrant welfare use and the responsiveness of immigrants to the incentives created by welfare systems. While our focus is largely on papers looking at the European case, we also draw on studies from the United States, in particular on issues where the European literature is thin. One set of papers asks whether immigrants who are more likely to use welfare are attracted to more generous welfare states. The results from these papers are not clear-cut. Another set of papers asks if immigrants use welfare more intensively than natives and if they assimilate out of or into welfare participation. In most cases, the unadjusted data show higher use of welfare by immigrants, although for some countries, for example Germany, this can be explained by differences in immigrants’ characteristics. Yet another set of papers finds that the rate of welfare use by existing migrants can influence the welfare use of newly arrived co-nationals. We illustrate some of these issues by looking at immigrant welfare use in Ireland and the UK. Immigrants in the UK appear to use welfare more intensively than natives, but the opposite appears to be the case in Ireland.

immigrants, welfare participation, Ireland, UK, I38, J61

Abstract:
This paper provides, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of the journal article output of Irish-based economists over a 30-year period. Using EconLit data, and supplementing where necessary, we provide details of the journals wherein Irish-based economists have published. We also provide details of the publishing histories of high volume publishers and discuss the evolving productivity profile of Irish-based economists. Data are in general consistent with existing research on the output of smaller national based sets of economists. We find evidence that the productivity of a small number of high volume producers and institutions is a substantial driver of overall national outputs. Evidence is inferred of the impact of productivity on career paths, and we examine details of the split between domestic and interantionally originated journals.

Our evidence shows that in general Irish-based economists have greatly increased the levels of output in the 1990's, but that this may have been at the expense of quality

Productivity, Ireland, Citation Analysis

Abstract:
Using data from two large-scale household surveys in 1987 and 1994, we estimate wage equations which show substantial increases in returns to university education for young Irish workers over the period, despite the exceptional increase in numbers with these qualifications. Returns to non-degree third level certificates and diplomas fell in relative terms, but returns to qualifications obtained by those leaving school at about 16 years of age rose. We argue that the increased return to university education primarily reflects the generalized shift in demand towards skilled labour internationally and the open nature of the Irish labour market. However, a floor may have been placed under earnings for low-skilled youth by the increased generosity of income support available to them.

Abstract:
The skill levels of immigrants entering the United States has declined in recent decades, but most immigrants to the United States continue to be admitted on the basis of family contacts, without reference to labor market characteristics. This situation has given rise to a debate about the criteria on which immigrants are admitted or excluded. In this paper I examine how the relative skill levels of immigrants admitted under different criteria vary across countries, those criteria being the possession of highly valued skills and family connections. I draw on the model of Borjas (1987) to predict how the relative skill levels of family-based and skill-based immigrant groups will differ across countries. Using data from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, I test the model and show that: 1) the relative skill levels of the two groups do indeed differ across countries; and 2) the pattern across countries is consistent with the Borjas predictions. The policy implication is that the effects of changing admission criteria will differ across countries, but in a predictable way.