Abstract
Ireland, along with Sweden and the UK, allowed full access to its labor market to the citizens of the accession countries when the EU enlarged in May 2004. Given the limited number of countries that opened up and the rapid pace of economic growth in Ireland around 2004, a significant inflow was expected. However, the rate of inflow exceeded all expectations. Based on census information, the number of EU10 nationals living in Ireland grew from around 10,000 in 2002 to 120,000 in 2006. Data on inflows suggests that this number could have reached 200,000 by 2008 or 4.5% of the population. The EU10 immigrants have very high employment rates and also have levels of education that are comparable to the native labor force in Ireland. However, they appear to earn considerably less than the native labor force and also to be in lower grade occupations. They have impacted positively on the Irish economy in terms of GNP growth. This is because wages grew more slowly in Ireland than would otherwise have been the case as a result of the labor supply increase brought about by this immigration flow.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Barrett, A/A. Bergin/D. Duffy 2006, The Labour Market Characteristics and Labour Market Impacts of Immigrants in Ireland, in: The Economic and Social Review 37 (1), 1–26.
Barrett, A./D. Duffy 2008, Are Ireland's Immigrants Integrating into its Labour Market?, in: International Migration Review 42 (3), 597–619.
Barrett, A./J. FitzGerald/B. Nolan (2002, Earning Inequality, Returns to Education and Immigration into Ireland, in: Labour Economics 9 (5), 665–680.
Barrett, A./I. Kearney/J. Goggin/M. O'Brien 2008a, Quarterly Economic Commentary, Autumn. Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin.
Barrett, A./Y. McCarthy (2007a, Immigrants in a Booming Economy: Analysing their Earnings and Welfare Dependence, in: Labour: Review of Labour Economics and Industrial Relations 21 (4–5), 789–808.
Barrett, A./Y. McCarthy (2007b), The Earnings of Immigrants in Ireland: Results from the 2005 EU Survey of Income and Living Conditions, in: Quarterly Economic Commentary, Winter, 42–62.
Barrett, A./S. McGuinness/M. O'Brien (2008b), The Immigrant Earnings Disadvantage across the Earnings and Skills Distributions: The Case of Immigrants from the EU's New Member States in Ireland. IZA Discussion Paper No. 3479, Bonn.
Barrett, A./P. O'Connell 2001, Is There a Wage Premium for Returning Irish Migrants?, in: Economic and Social Review 32 (1), 1–21.
Bell, B. D. 1997, The Performance of Immigrants in the United Kingdom: Evidence from the GHS, in: The Economic Journal 107 (441), 333–344.
Borjas, G. J./R. B. Freeman/L. F. Katz 1997, How Much Do Immigration and Trade Affect Labor Market Outcomes, in: Brooking Papers on Economic Activity 1, 1–90.
CSO Ireland 2008, Census 2006 – Non-Irish Nationals Living in Ireland. Dublin: The Stationery Office.
Honohan, P. 1984, The Evolution of Unemployment in Ireland 1962–83, in: Quarterly Economic Commentary, May, 41–58.
Honohan, P. 1992, The Link between Irish and UK Unemployment, in: Quarterly Economic Commentary, Spring, 33–44.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Barrett, A. (2009). EU Enlargement and Ireland’s Labor Market. In: Kahanec, M., Zimmermann, K. (eds) EU Labor Markets After Post-Enlargement Migration. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02242-5_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02242-5_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-02241-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-02242-5
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsEconomics and Finance (R0)