Is there a new knowledge economy in Ireland? An analysis of recent occupational trends

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the substantial expansion in the labour force between 1997 and 2004 on the proportion of the Irish workforce that can be categorised as working in knowledge occupations. Design/methodology/approach – The Quarterly National Household Survey was used to estimate the trend in knowledge type work at the national level for the period 1997 to 2004, specifically examining which specific occupations are increasing over this period. Findings – Employment growth occurred relatively equally at the high-, middle- and low-skill occupational levels, indicating the continuing importance of intermediate and particularly low-skill occupations in the structure and expansion of the Irish labour force. Research limitations/implications – There are substantial problems with the use of broad occupational level data as a proxy to measure the extent of knowledge occupations. It would be useful to consider adopting the Australian Standard Classification of Occupations as it includes the complexity of the set of tasks involved in a job, formal education, training and previous experience. Practical implications – The findings indicate the continuing importance of intermediate and low-skill occupations as well as high-skill occupations in the structure and expansion of the Irish labour force. Government training and education policy needs to target resources across a broad range of skills and occupations. Originality/value – The paper provides a profile and analysis of occupational changes in the Irish labour market.Ireland, Knowledge management, Labour market

Organising methods and member recruitment in Irish Trade Unions

Purpose This paper explores the recruiting and organising methods used by Irish full-time union officials to recruit new members in the private sector of the economy. Design/methodology/approach The analysis is based on a survey of full-time union officials in eight Irish trade unions. Findings Results indicate that the use of organising techniques by officials had no significant impact on changes in membership numbers but did have a significant and positive impact on reported changes in new members. However, the variance explained was extremely modest. Research limitations and implications A potential limitation is that we assess the organising model solely from the perspective of full-time union officials. An area for future research would be to capture the attitudes and experiences of local activists involved in organising. Practical implications The demands of the organising approach require great commitment in terms of time and financial resources for unions. Yet the returns from this investment may be slight as we found only a relatively weak relationship between the number of organising methods used and changes in membership numbers and the recruitment of new members. Originality/value of paper To date there has been little systematic study of either the recruitment methods used by Irish trade unions or the relative success of different approaches. Based on a survey of Irish full-time union officials this paper attempts to address this lacun

Union availability, union membership and immigrant workers: An empirical investigation of the Irish case

Purpose – The paper’s purpose is to examine the propensity of recent immigrants to join Irish trade unions compared to Irish workers. Design/methodology/approach – The analysis is based on the 2005 Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS), a quarterly survey carried out by the Central Statistics Office. Findings – Results show that immigrant workers are less likely to join Irish trade unions than comparable native workers. Length of residency is an important factor in the likelihood of immigrants being unionised but employment in the public or private sector assumes even greater importance than nationality in determining union membership. Research limitations/implications – While the QNHS is generally a robust representative sample survey of the population, errors may occur in the proportion of non-Irish nationals surveyed due to difficulties of ensuring their inclusion in the sample population. Language may also be an obstacle, particularly for recently arrived immigrants. Practical implications – From a trade union perspective the results highlight the need for trade unions to regularly conduct organising campaigns targeted at immigrants. Government policy aimed at integrating immigrants into the Irish labour force and ensuring adequate labour standards would be well served by ensuring greater union availability to immigrant workers. Originality/value – The paper provides a profile and analysis of the extent to which immigrants are joining trade unions compared to Irish workers

Wie "AfD-bewegt" sind die Gewerkschafter?

Against the background of the recent electoral success of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (Alternative für Deutschland, AfD), this contribution deals with the relevance of trade union membership for voters’ support of this party. As organizations with large parts of their identity shaped by their historic pride as pioneers of the fight for freedom and democracy in anti-fascist resistance, trade unions have taken a clear stance against the AfD. Has this organizational positioning caught on among trade union members? The analysis of voter behavior in the Bundestag elections of 2017 does not show any direct effects of the affiliation with trade unions on voter preferences for or against the AfD, and equally few effects on general opinions of this party. However, subtle indirect effects of trade union membership are discernable. Among union members, certain forms of social and political alienation only weakly translate into positive attitudes towards the AfD. In total, however, union membership does not constitute a massive barrier for the AfD on their path to electoral success. In agreement with previous studies, these results also suggest that trade union membership nowadays is of no relevance when it comes to general political issues that do not directly concern voters’ social and economic interests