1 Introduction

Ireland was among the countries in Europe hit the hardest by the global financial crisis. By the first half of 2012, it had also suffered from the fallout from a home-grown property bubble and faced extremely high unemployment. To address this social and economic crisis, the Irish government launched a series of annual Action Plans for Jobs (APJs), underpinned by efforts to mobilise whole-of-government support for private sector led job creation. The labour market has since stabilised, unemployment is falling, and job creation accelerated through 2013.

From peak employment of 2.16 million in Q1 2008, the Irish economy saw the loss of more than 320 000 jobs – or 15.1% – by the time the labour market bottomed out in Q2 2012. This left only 1.83 million people employed. Nearly 60 000 jobs were created in the year to end-Q4 2013. The pace of job creation accelerated over this period, leaving 1.9 million employed by this time. Similarly, from its Q4 2007 peak of 64.1%, the labour participation rate had fallen sharply to 59.8% by Q2 2012, before recovering marginally to 60.4% by Q4 2013. Net emigration in the years to end-April 2012 and end-April 2013 was 34 400 and 33 100 respectively. As a result, the unemployment rate climbed dramatically over this period from 4.5% in Q1 2007 to peak at 15.1% in Q1 2012. It then began a slow but steady decline to 12.1% by Q4 20131. The latest standardised unemployment rate, calculated on the basis of benefit claimants, stood at 11.8% in March 20142. This indicates the scale of the challenge still lying ahead, despite steady progress.

This document provides a preliminary overview of the 2012 and 2013 APJs. It does not purport to be an exhaustive survey; nor does it contain a comprehensive and prescriptive set of recommendations. Rather, it sets out the policy context, examines a number of the APJs’ core components, and lays the foundations for further OECD collaboration on future APJs and in support of the government’s job creation efforts more broadly.