A universal basic income (UBI) is defined as a universal, unconditional cash payment that is made regularly, is sufficient to live on, is not means tested, carries no work requirements and is paid on an individual basis. This study examines the international evidence on universal basic incomes...

Previous research has shown that, on average, lower paid workers were more susceptible to job losses during the pandemic. This relates to the fact that many low paid jobs are in sectors that were particularly hard hit by the public health measures. For example, many businesses in the...

The provision of high-quality jobs is an important component of the policy strategy of organisations such as the ILO, the OECD and the European Union. Job quality can have important implications for employee well-being, as well as being an important component of a well-functioning and productive...

Ireland was hit particularly hard by the global financial crisis, with severe impacts on the labor market. Between 2007 and 2013, the unemployment rate increased dramatically, from 5% to 15.5%, and the labor force participation rate declined by almost five percentage points between 2007 and...

I provide an overview of minimum wage policy in Ireland over the past 20 years, and survey the recent evidence on the economic impacts of a minimum wage. Drawing on this evidence, I analyse the potential implications of the recent Covid-19 crisis on minimum wage employment in Ireland. The recent...

In 2016, the Irish minimum wage increased from €8.65 to €9.15 per hour. A new ESRI study, funded by the Low Pay Commission, found that the 2016 minimum wage increase led to higher labour costs among firms with more than half of their employees on the minimum wage. However, these types of...

Using data for 2017 and 2018, this report provides a comparative analysis of minimum wage employment in Ireland, relative to a selection of other European countries with a statutory minimum wage. We estimate that just under 10 per cent of employees in Ireland were on the minimum wage during this...

This study uses new administrative earnings data, linked to the Irish Labour Force Survey, to analyse the impact of three successive minimum wage increases that took place over the period 2016 to 2018, on the hours worked of minimum wage employees. The study allows for the assessment of the...

Ireland's Probability of Exit (PEX) statistical profiling model predicts the likelihood that a claimant will still be unemployed 12 months after the day that they make their initial unemployment benefit claim. The model was initially developed by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)...