Health, Deprivation, Welfare and the Labour Market
The areas covered here – health, deprivation and welfare and their inter-relationship with the labour market – are central for Northern Ireland which is, in UK terms, a relatively low place on the scale in relation to the health of the population, poverty and employment. Moreover, although the UK has already reached the overall “Lisbon Targets” for employment rates, the government has committed itself to raising employment rates of the 30 lowest local authority districts in the UK towards the national average. Whether, or to what extent, this latter commitment involves Northern Ireland specifically, it certainly signals very clearly that the employment rate (and by implication the non-employment rate) is, and will remain, a key target for policy-makers. Finally, and likely to be of considerable significance in the short to medium term, it has been announced that the latest phase of welfare “reform” in the UK is to focus specifically on strengthening the “pathways to work” for those presently receiving incapacity benefit. This is of special relevance to Northern Ireland where over 10% of the working age population are on incapacity benefit (more than twice the proportion in South England, but roughly similar to Wales and the North East of England) and, of course, “preparing people for work” is one of the “key themes” in DEL’s current strategic plan. Since, as is widely recognised, the welfare system may in practice (and unintentionally) offer some people incentives not to take up employment, as part of this programme of work we need also to consider the practical significance of the “benefit trap”. The aim of this research is to improve the ability of policy makers to tailor actions to impact positively on the level of inactivity in Northern Ireland and raise employability.
Researchers
Michael Anyadike Danes, Angela McGowan
Completed Work
What is the problem, exactly?: Investigating the distribution of Incapacity Benefit claimants’ conditions across British regions
How Well are Women Doing? Female Non-employment across UK Regions
Sickness Over the Recovery: The Persistence of the Regional Hierarchy in UK Labour Market Outcomes, 1995-2005
What’s Been Going on at the Bottom End of the UK Labour Market?
Has the boom in Incapacity Benefit claimant numbers passed its peak?
(Conference paper) (Article and materials)
Report on Research to Assist in the Design and Evaluation of the Benefit Take-Up Strategy
(Copies of this report are available on request. Please contact Michael Anyadike-Danes)
A Data Based Design for the Benefit Take-up Strategy: A Pilot Study of Pension Credit
(Copies of this report are available on request. Please contact Michael Anyadike-Danes)
Has Migration Worsened Geographical Inequalities in Health in Northern Ireland over the Last Decade?
October 2006 (Version One).
Has Migration Worsened Geographical Inequalities in Health in Northern Ireland over the Last Decade?
(Version Two - Final).
Why are there still so many long term sick in Great Britain?
Some Labour Market Dimensions of Disability in Regional Perspective: What can we learn from the Labour Force Survey?
What’s in a place? Continuity and Change in the Spatial Distribution of Deprivation in Northern Ireland, 1971 to 2001
Taking the Temperature of the Labour Market: Using Local Variations in the Qualifications Employment Relationship as a ‘Health’ Indicator
You'll Never Walk Alone: Childhood Influences and Male Career Path Clusters
My Brilliant Career: Characterising the Labour Market Trajectories of British Women of Generation X
Some Labour Market Dimensions of Disability in Regional Perspective: What can we learn from the Labour Force Survey?
Is Sickness Catching? An Analysis of 'Permanent Sickness and Disability' Data from the 2001 Census for Local Authority
Using Bayesian Networks to Explore the Transition from School to Work
The Real North-South Divide? Regional Gradients in UK Male Non-Employment
Work in Progress
- Investigating the Benefit Trap in Northern Ireland
- Accounting for Change in the UK’s IB Claimant Numbers: A Simulation Approach
- An Investigation of the Inter-regional Variation in IB Claimants
Current UK economic policy is centered on achieving a faster rate of productivity growth in order to close the historical gap in productivity levels that exists with respect to some of its main competitors such as the US, Germany and France. In order to raise the level of economic growth across the regions of the UK, policy makers seek to influence what they have identified as the “five key drivers” of productivity performance one of which is skills. Policies on skills are focused on improving skills in four overlapping groups: young people; the workforce; the unemployed; and work-based learning. This is the background against which the Priority Skills Unit (PSU) has been engaged in a programme of research in supporting the work of the Northern Ireland Skills Expert Group in particular, and more generally, the skills work of DEL.
Researchers
Jessica Bennett
Completed work
Service Sector SMEs and Essential Skill Provision in the 16-25 year old Labour Market: Evidence from Northern Ireland (ERINI Working Paper, forthcoming in the International Journal of Human Resources Management)
Examining the Link between Skill Shortages, Training Composition and Productivity levels in the Northern Ireland Construction Industry
Intra and Inter-Generational Changes in the Returns to Schooling
Assessing the Impact of Skill Shortages on The Productivity Performance of High-Tech Firms in Northern Ireland
Overeducation in the Labour Market (ERINI Working Paper, forthcoming in the Journal of Economic Surveys)
Overeducation and the Graduate Labour Market: A Quantile Regression approach
How Biased are The Estimated Wage Impacts of Overeducation? A Propensity Score Matching Approach
A Study of the Northern Ireland Labour Market for Construction Skills: A Report Presented by the Priority Skills Unit
Construction Industry Forecasts
Work in Progress
- An Assessment of International Trends in Occupational Forecasting and Skills Research: How Does Northern Ireland Compare?
- A Study of Skills Requirement within the Creative Industries
- Is it Worth the Paper it's Written On?: Study of Basic Skill Levels in the Service Sector for 16-25 year olds. (To be published in conjunction with Dream Ireland in Autumn 2006)
Health, Deprivation, Welfare and the Labour Market: Office of Manpower Economics Research
The Office of Manpower Economics (OME) has commissioned ERINI to supply analysis of the Northern Ireland labour market to provide support for the work of the Pay Review Bodies. This work consists both of background analysis on the local labour market as a whole and more detailed analysis of specific sectors.
Researchers
Jessica Bennett, Deirdre McMullan
Completed Work
The Labour Market: A UK Regional Comparison
The Labour Market: A NI / GB Comparison
Sources of Labour Market Information for Northern Ireland
Work in Progress
Doctors, Dentists and Nurses in the Northern Ireland Labour Market
Teachers in the Northern Ireland Labour Market
