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THE RECESSION HAS not put a dint in Ireland’s need to hire foreign workers to fill highly-skilled jobs.
A new report has found that Ireland is still competing with other countries for educated workers from outside of Europe, even despite the economic downturn.
The ESRI report published today found that 3.9 per cent of workers in Ireland come from outside the European Economic Area, compared to an average in other countries in the EU of just over 4 per cent. The workers are employed mainly across IT, engineering, healthcare and financial services, where there is a distinct shortage of people with the right skills in Ireland.
The Irish government has focused on only letting non-EEA people with high levels of skills live and work in Ireland: there are currently 64,300 people from outside the European Economic Area in Ireland, almost half of whom are working in high-skilled occupations. Only the UK and Luxembourg had higher proportions in these jobs.
The vast majority – almost 70 per cent – have obtained high levels of education – above degree level – which is the highest percentage across the EU.
The European Economic Area is made up of almost all of the EU countries, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
The report notes that Ireland has tried to hire workers from within the EEA as far as possible over the past two decades, while at the same time limiting the number of employment permits to highly specialised and qualified people from outside of Europe.
Policymakers have brought in a range of measures to attract highly qualified workers from outside the EEA to fill skills shortages, including the introduction of special programmes to attract entrepreneurs and investors, and green cards for employment.
The report by ESRI researchers Emma Quinn and Egle Gusciute notes however that there are still significant barriers to attracting highly-skilled workers from outside the EEA to Ireland, particularly the lack of a clear long-term residence scheme and the opaque nature of family reunification schemes.
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Why are comments being disabled on the majority of articles?
@DK: Why? Why is it in any way important whether an asylum seeker is single???
@Aidy McBride: It’s a shame, as I, like most people I would imagine, only come here for the comments. The actual news delivery isn’t great so if there’s no comments I can’t see The Journal lasting long.
@sean o’dhubhghaill: single as in coming on their own here and not as part of a family unit but you new that didn’t you? Just trying to deflect for some reason. Are these men going to want sexual relationships with women here? How many women in Ireland are going to want sexual relationships with asylum seekers, let’s be honest? Do you not think this might lead to issues down the road if we get 50k male asylum seekers every year and about 5k of women? Need to have some adult conversations in this country but too many like to try their best avoid it with deflection like yours and throwing around the racist word.
@DK: Jeez! How sexist can a comment get! You don’t seem tobe worried at all about the 5k women wanting ‘sexual relations’ with good Irish men!
@sean o’dhubhghaill: What’s sexist in my comment. Well those women will have a load of male asylum seekers to choose from if they so wish, not so much choice for the males.
@The next small thing: You’re on to something.
@Aidy McBride: Because of your incessant incendiary remarks.
@The next small thing: Either government or some such like intervention to stifle free speech seen as dangerous, and/or the emerging left liberal stance as seen in the previous iteration of Twitter. If one has to stifle free speech and a possible alternative viewpoint, one doubts ones own point of view.
@Aidy McBride: I guess the Journal doesn’t like free speech, however constructive. ‘The shape of things to come’.
@DK: men are being demonised and portrayed like animals! And that seems to be ok… WOW!! In the era of pc and being easily offended, it seems to be open season when it comes to passing remark on men.
Well what we have learned is that the middle are still being squeezed lifeless.
Voting in chancers like Haughey+Bertie was always going to end in tears. Bertie bought 2007 GE and people voted him in despite knowing about his ‘dig outs’. We as voters own the crash too.
Same with Johnson, Trump, Bolsonara.
@James Gorman: FF and Jack Lynch ‘bought’ the 1977 election too, and we, as a nation, are STILL suffering from and struggling with the mad decision to abolish local rates.
I know loads of people in Brand new houses that don’t and never have worked..They seem to squeeze in a feed of pints every day though.
@Redseat92: That’s our politicians for you. Mind you, those are subsidised pints.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: Most underrated comment!
Still paying for it via austerity taxes, (property tax an usc)and those born during the time the banks needed us to give them a loan are about to join the workforce and will also be paying for that bailout.
Also it was only around 2016/17 when markets normalised, not 2013. And we still await taxes normalising. So we are essentially living in those times.
Great nuanced well researched article.
More of this please
@Niamh Hayes: Haha.
My heart bleeds for the squeezed middle and working poor I ALMOST can’t blame them when they turn septic and declare themselves a single parent and go on the housing list.
How can they ever afford a house when they have to compete with councils buying units to give away to welfare tourists.
have your say