ESSENTIAL EMPLOYEES DURING THE COVID-19 CRISIS. ESRI SURVEY AND STATISTICAL REPORT SERIES NUMBER 85 May 2020

• In this report, we use Irish Labour Force Survey data to profile the characteristics of essential workers. We pay particular attention to the family structure, such as whether the employee has children and the age of those children. Given the closure of schools and crèches, this will provide insight into the potential challenges faced by those who are combining work with family responsibilities

WHO CAN WORK FROM HOME IN IRELAND? ESRI SURVEY AND STATISTICAL REPORT SERIES NUMBER 87 May 2020

• In this report, we use Irish Labour Force Survey data to profile the characteristics of essential workers. We pay particular attention to the family structure, such as whether the employee has children and the age of those children. Given the closure of schools and crèches, this will provide insight into the potential challenges faced by those who are combining work with family responsibilities

THE PREVALENCE AND EFFECT ON HOURS WORKED OF THE MINIMUM WAGE IN IRELAND. Research Series Number 93, December 2019 A SECTORAL AND REGIONAL ANALYSIS

This study examines the extent to which the profile of minimum wage (MW) employees, and the impacts of the 2018 increase in the national minimum wage rate, varies by sector and region in Ireland. The research highlights variations in the importance of MW employment across regions and sectors. It also highlights the potential importance of considering regional and sectoral issues in any process used to determine the appropriate MW rate

A STUDY OF MINIMUM WAGE EMPLOYMENT IN IRELAND: THE ROLE OF WORKER, HOUSEHOLD AND JOB CHARACTERISTICS. ESRI SURVEY AND STATISTICAL REPORT SERIES, November 2017

This study uses Irish data from the Survey of Income and Living Conditions (SILC) to examine the factors underlying differences in the relative risk of being in receipt of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) among groups with relatively high rates of exposure to NMW employment, such as females, young people and non-Irish nationals. The results for Ireland are then compared with the UK. The study attempts to identify the factors driving a higher propensity of minimum wage employment among specific risk groups. The research is interested in understanding the degree to which the likelihood of minimum wage employment is driven by factors such as personal characteristics (like education and experience), job conditions within particular occupations or factors related to household composition and caring responsibilities

AN EXAMINATION OF THE LABOUR MARKET TRANSITIONS OF MINIMUM WAGE WORKERS IN IRELAND. ESRI RESEARCH SERIES NUMBER 75 October 2018

A national minimum wage (NMW) was first introduced in Ireland in 2000, with an initial rate of €5.58 per hour.1 The rate was increased in subsequent years, so that by July 2007 the minimum wage stood at €8.65 per hour. However, from 2007 to 2015 there were no further increases in the NMW. Following recommendations from the Irish Low Pay Commission, which was established in 2015, the NMW was increased in January 2016 from €8.65 to €9.15 per hour, the first increase in nine years. It was further increased to €9.25 per hour in January 2017 and to €9.55 per hour in January 2018, the figure at which it currently stands. In 2016 a question was added to the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) which directly asks employees whether their hourly wage is equal to, above or below the NMW. According to this new measure, the incidence of minimum wage employment was 10.1 per cent in 2016 and 8.2 per cent in 2017.2 Previous work by Maître et al. (2017), investigating the characteristics of minimum wage workers in Ireland, found that women, non-Irish nationals, younger persons, people with lower levels of education and part-time workers were more likely to be on the minimum wage. In this study, we use this new measure of minimum wage employment in Ireland to assess the degree to which individuals in receipt of the NMW transition in and out of NMW employment over a period of three quarters in 2016 and 2017. The objective of the analysis is as follows: (a) to identify the labour market status and key characteristics of individuals moving out of NMW employment to higher pay; (b) to assess the extent to which NMW status is transitory and to identify the rate at which NMW employees transition to higher paid jobs; (c) to examine whether minimum wage employees are more likely to transition to unemployment or inactivity relative to higher paid workers

'It'll get worse before it gets better': Local experiences of living in a regeneration area

The negative consequences of living in deprived neighbourhoods for residents’ quality of life are well documented. Area-based regeneration initiatives are invariably concerned with improving local quality of life over the long term. The process of regeneration, however, can itself directly result in immediate and potentially lasting negative effects for local communities. This paper discusses some of the ways in which living in an area undergoing regeneration can adversely affect inhabitants’ quality of life, including problems associated with voids, relocation, demolitions, environmental quality, complexity, funding issues, uncertainty, frustration, fear for the future and consultation fatigue. A case study approach draws examples from a deprived neighbourhood in the North East of England. The conclusion discusses some of the possible implications for future regeneration policy, including: the importance of ongoing communication between professionals and communities; the need to value local people’s experience, judgement and the contribution they can make to local decision-making processes; recognition that successful regeneration can take many years; and the implications of current UK government policy

Swimming against the tide: a study of a neighbourhood trying to rediscover its ‘reason for being’– the case of South Bank, Redcar and Cleveland

Many of the programmes and initiatives to regenerate deprived neighbourhoods appear to have had limited lasting impact. It has been argued that one reason for this is that we still have little real understanding of the nature and scale of the problems some communities face (Bernt, 2009). This paper attempts to add to our knowledge through close study of an area with multiple problems and a history of failed regeneration attempts. An in-depth case study undertaken to explore the current situation and future prospects of South Bank, a small neighbourhood in the North East of England, highlights transferable knowledge which may be applied to other regeneration areas. The analysis considers the nature and consequences of industrial decline; entrenched deprivation; the stigmatization of communities; the value of community consultation and the potential impact of retail-led regeneration. We question whether negative stigma attached to places can be changed and we ask what the future may hold for deprived communities now that public sector funding has largely dried up, and we consider an alternative approach: the potential impacts of private sector retail-led regeneration in the absence of public sector funding

The Benefits and Costs of Fish Consumption Advisories for Mercury

Mercury contamination of the Chesapeake Bay is a concern to health authorities in the region. We evaluate the economic and health effects of postulated recreational and commercial fishing advisories for striped bass on the Maryland portion of the bay. Awareness of and response to the advisory is estimated using a meta-analysis of the literature. Three values are estimated: welfare losses to recreational anglers, welfare losses in the commercial striped bass fishery, and health benefits. An estimate of percentage of consumer surplus loss is applied to the value of all fishing days in the bay to estimate recreational welfare loss. Welfare losses to the commercial fishery are estimated based on a model of supply and demand. Health benefits are estimated using estimated exposure and epidemiological relationships, and while potentially large, are highly uncertain. Results also suggest most individuals are below advisory standards ex ante, such that advisories should target high-frequency consumers.fisheries, mercury, advisories, recreation, health benefits

Does one size fit all? Place-neutral national planning policy in England and its impact on housing land supplies and local development plans in North East England

This article examines the impact of the National Planning Policy Framework’s requirement that all local planning authorities in England should strive to achieve a robust supply of housing land to satisfy demand for housing development for a minimum of five years. Conceptually the paper challenges the orthodox place-neutral view propounded by UK central government (and many major housing developers) that a bottleneck in land supply caused by deficiencies in the local (plan-led) planning system is the central barrier to unblocking housing supply in all parts of the country. Theoretically, we contend that the five-year land supply requirement within the National Planning Policy Framework is an example of a spatially place-neutral policy approach that does not comprehend the place-based nuances in local and regional land and housing markets in England. Empirically, it explores a case study of all 12 local planning authorities in the North East of England, to question whether a uniform (one size fits all) approach to identifying a five-year supply of land for housing development across England is effectual. Analysis of empirical data validates concerns that in some peripheral localities, other variables constrain housing deliverability more significantly than land supply, issues such as limited mortgage and development finance, an abundance of brownfield land, negative place-based stigma and development viability concern. The research concludes that centrally defined, inflexible, place-neutral planning policy is a significant impairment to some local planning authorities in the North of England achieving up-to-date local plans

ESTIMATING THE EFFECT OF AN INCREASE IN THE MINIMUM WAGE ON HOURS WORKED AND EMPLOYMENT IN IRELAND. ESRI SURVEY AND STATISTICAL REPORT SERIES, April 2018

Using data from the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) for the years 2015 and 2016, we estimate the effect of the increase in the minimum wage on both the hours worked and likelihood of job loss among minimum wage workers using a difference-in-differences estimator. We find that the increase in the minimum wage had a negative and statistically significant impact on the hours worked of low paid workers, with a weekly reduction of approximately one hour. We split the sample based on the type of contract, temporary or permanent, and find a relatively large impact for temporary workers in the order of 3.5 hours per week. However, further examination of the data reveals that at least some of the observed effect may be attributed to an increase in voluntary PT employment among minimum wage workers, suggesting that the decline in average hours among the treatment group may have been driven, at least to some extent, by an increase in the incentive to work part-time following the rate rise. Our results are robust to both placebo tests for years where no change in the MW rate occurred and various alternative specifications. We do not find evidence that the increase in the minimum wage led to a rise in the rate of job loss among minimum wage workers