Unemployment persistence in a small open labour market : the Irish case

This paper reviews previous research on Irish unemployment. It examines the reasons for the persistence of high unemployment and the relevance of the concept of a time-varying rate of "equilibrium" unemployment in a small and open labour market. The links between Irish and British unemployment, and the effects of economic growth on Irish unemployment, are explored. The difficulty of establishing links between Irish labour market conditions and wage price inflation is documented. The paper concludes with a discussion of contribution of centralised wage bargaining to the recent impressive performance of the Irish labour market.