Ireland - Working conditions



The falling unemployment of the 1990s has accelerated to the extent that the key issue in 2001 is a shortage of skilled and unskilled labor. The labor force increased from 1,650,100 in early 1999 to 1,745,600 in mid-2000, with 1,670,700 in employment (mid-2000). In 1999 and 2000, surveys carried out by the Small Firms Association indicated that 91 percent of surveyed members were experiencing difficulties recruiting staff, particularly at the unskilled level. The labor market increased by 6.2 percent (96,000) in 1999, and the number of long-term unemployed decreased to just 1.7 percent of the workforce. There is a risk that this shrinkage in the volume of available labor will further fuel demands for wage increases.

Social partnership agreements over the last decade have kept wages moderate and generally lower than in other EU states. There is an increasingly widespread consensus on the part of workers, particularly in the public sector , that the fruits of economic growth have not been distributed, let alone distributed evenly. It is feared that demands for increased pay may undermine growth by fuelling inflation, thus pushing up the cost of living for individuals and of wages for business, both foreign and domestic owned.

The input of trade unions into economic policy-making was formalized with the introduction of national wage agreements in 1989. The umbrella body, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, incorporates 46 unions, with a total membership of 523,700 (2000). According to the largest union, the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU), membership increased by 60,000 to more than 200,000 in 2000. However, many multinationals do not permit union membership. Despite overall improvements in wage and employment levels, the current industrial climate is at its worst this decade. Strikes are a more regular feature across the public sector, with nurses, the Garda (police), and teachers demanding increases of up to 40 percent. The most recent wage agreement—the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness ness (PPF)—has proved almost impossible to implement, since the agreed annual 5 percent pay increases are no longer considered sufficient by unions; they argue that the cost of living has increased by more and, with inflation having peaked at almost 7 percent in November 2000, they appear to have a case.

Hourly rates of pay have increased significantly across all sectors. According to the government's Central Statistics Office, the average industrial wage of I£274.37 for a 40.5-hour week in 1996 rose to I£283.53 in 1997 and I£295.20 in 1998. In 1999, employees in private firms had higher average wage figures. Skilled workers earned I£461.86 for a 45.6-hour week and the unskilled and semi-skilled were paid I£346.55 for a 46.8-hour week. As indicated above, income differentials—the difference between income levels across all sectors from the highest to the lowest—are higher than in other EU countries.

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