Wednesday, November 27th, 2013
Drawing on the recent piece by Michael Taft, assessing the proportion of emigration for which the recession/response is responsible, and on some CSO estimates for population, we can see the following:
The Irish population has grown by 108,000 between 2009 and 2013.
Taft estimates a net 136,000 Irish aged 15-29 emigrated due ...
Posted in Citizenship, migration, race, and ethnicity, Income and poverty | Comments Off on How many jobs does Ireland need?
Saturday, January 28th, 2012
This to me is the key section from George Lakey's piece in the Indypendent's blog:
The Depression hit bottom in 1931. More people were jobless there than in any other Nordic country. Unlike in the U.S., the Norwegian union movement kept the people thrown out of work as members, even though ...
Posted in Income and poverty, International Affairs, Labour issues | Comments Off on Solidarity, unions, and the unemployed
Friday, March 4th, 2011
Interesting analysis from CQ Roll Call about the latest employment numbers in the US:
What’s also clear is that the GOP’s spending-cut policies may limit overall improvement in the job market. While the report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed 1.3 million new jobs created over the past 12 months, ...
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Mixed employment numbers in US
Friday, November 26th, 2010
The Irish educational system has some strange features. One is that while school staff have their wages and conditions set - and paid for - by the Department of Education - they are not viewed, in law, as employees of the Department. Historically this has been used as a fudge ...
Posted in Education, Income and poverty, Labour issues | Comments Off on More DoE hypocrisy
Friday, November 12th, 2010
Minister for Health Mary Harney has criticized protestors who throw things at her - today it was eggs, last week paint - as she visits different parts of the country:
"'I think it's a great pity that in a democracy people don't use the opportunity to put their perspective forward in ...
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Time for an Irish election
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008
It's not wholly surprising, but it seems possible that the meteoric rise of the Celtic Tiger could very soon be eclipsed by the current free-fall of the Irish economy.
Following on from news that the economy fell into recession in the second quarter of 2008 (with two consecutive quarters of declining ...
Posted in Income and poverty, Labour issues | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008
Talks on a new national social partnership agreement - which includes agreement on pay in public and private workplaces - have broken down in Ireland. Ireland has had centralized agreements covering pay and other issues since the late 1980s. These have ensured a voice for unions (and employers) in setting ...
Posted in Income and poverty, Labour issues | 1 Comment »