strategy statement03 - 05

Employment grew by 16,300 (3.7%) in the Border, Midland and Western Region, and by 10,200 (0.8%) in the Southern and Eastern Region in the year to the end of the first quarter of 2003. The number of people unemployed in the BMW region over the same period remained static at 25,800. Unemployment in the Southern and Eastern Region increased by 5,000 (9.2%) over the period, rising to 59,200. The lowest unemployment rate at the time of writing is in the Mid-East region at 3.1%, while the Border region has the highest unemployment rate at 6.3%.

1.7.1 Immigration & work permits

One significant feature of the Irish labour market in recent years is the turnaround from emigration to significant levels of immigration. Immigration, especially from countries outside the EU, has contributed to labour force growth, with the proportion of immigrants from outside the US and the EU rising from only 21 per cent in 1999 to 38 per cent of total immigration in 2001. The number of emigrants on the other hand was 11% (2,400) lower than in the year to April 2000, the lowest level of emigration recorded since detailed figures began in 1987.

The rise in non-EU/EEA immigration has also seen increased demand for work permits. Work permits allocated in respect of non-EEA citizens rose from about 6,000 in 1999, to 18,000 in the year 2000 and to 36,500 in 2001. More than 40,300 work permits were issued for 2002. It should be noted, however, that out of this figure, approximately 16,500 were renewed permits.

The vacancy survey referred to earlier asked firms with vacancies if they had recruited workers from abroad. The results reveal that over half of such recruitment in the Hi-Tech Manufacturing, Finance & Business Services, and Transport/Personal/Other Services sectors involved workers from other EU countries, while workers from countries outside the EU accounted for over half of the recruitment by the remaining sectors. For example, 83 per cent of the foreign workers recruited by the Traditional Manufacturing sector came from outside the EU3. These

3 Williams J, Blackwell S. and Hughes G., National Survey of Vacancies in the Private Non- Agricultural Sector 2001/2002, FÁS/Forfás/ESRI.

Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment

differences would seem to indicate that in respect of non-Irish recruitment, higher-skill sectors tend to find the workers they require in other EU countries, whereas lower-skill sectors are more likely to fill their vacancies by seeking recruits from the rest of the world via the work permit system.

There was a considerable improvement in the industrial relations climate during the previous strategy period, with marked reductions in the number of strikes and days lost through industrial disputes. This represents a continuation of the downward trend in the number of days lost through industrial disputes since the beginning of the 1990s, with the exception of 1999, 2000 and 2001 when wide-scale strikes by nurses and teachers had a disproportionate impact on the figures.

Figure from page 18

CSO data for the first 3 quarters of 2002 indicate that the number of days lost through industrial disputes was 17,092 compared to 113,943 for the same period in 2001. The number of strikes remained the same for the first 3 quarters in 2001 and 2002 at 24. Preliminary indications are that the number of days lost in 2002 will be significantly lower than 2001 and the lowest since 1994 when a total of 25,550 days were lost.

Negotiations were concluded on the new partnership agreement, Sustaining Progress, which was ratified in March 2003. The agreement covers the period 2003-2005, and has an overall goal of realising the NESC vision for Irish society in a period of considerable uncertainty. However, even in the context of the new agreement, it is likely that there will be significant extra demands on the Department’s dispute resolution agencies i.e. the Labour Relations Commission and the Labour Court. There will be a role for both the Court and the Commission in dealing with disputes on compliance and right to bargain issues. Both agencies have a consistently good track record, with over 80% of cases settled at conciliation by the Labour Relations Commission and the vast majority of recommendations of the Labour Court being accepted by the parties.