The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton is setting a target of 100,000 net new jobs by 2016 on the eve of the Government’s launch of the Action Plan on Jobs.  Does this mean that the Action Plan will create 100,000 net new jobs by 2016?  No.  Does this mean that without the Action [...]

We’re into the great expectations-management game again.  It happens once a year, just prior to the budget.  ‘Proposals’ are leaked or rumoured.  The media - colluding in this annual exercise - chase around for stories.  TDs, commentators, and people potentially affected are lined up for comment.  No one is any wiser but it fills column [...]

I spent last week going through the Census of Industrial Production reports, 1983 to 2006, in order to find out just how many jobs in Ireland are provided directly by foreign investment.
This graph is what I got.

Notice how there is virtually no change in foreign-based industrial employment from the early 1980s onwards - in fact, [...]

Book review: Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy by Ross Perlin
Not since Monica Lewinsky has the intern received as much attention as in recent months. Since the practise of auctioning off prestigious internships to the highest bidders at the Conservative Ball became public knowledge and David Cameron [...]

A rainy Sunday morning; it brings many thoughts - of outdoor activities cancelled, indoor DIY projects advanced, no football and letting Garibaldy go through the Sunday Independent so that we don’t have to suffer that fate (save for Gene Kerrigan who should always be read in print or on-line).
It also brings to mind the [...]

Michael Taft was on Primetime tonight talking about the JLC proposals. You can see a recording of the program here.
The proposal by the Minister for Enterprise, Richard Bruton - as mooted in the Irish Times report - is cynical in the extreme. Apparently, he wants to remove the ability of employers [...]

The Restaurant Association of Ireland and Ibec won’t like it. Fine Gael certainly won’t like it. The army of commentators armed only with superficial and out-of-date analysis won’t like it. But the report on the Joint Labour Councils written by Kevin Duffy and Dr Frank Walsh does a good job [...]

At the heart of the Government’s emerging policy lies a profound dislocation and contradiction. Its Jobs Initiative is intended to promote consumer spending - a valid enough goal. Consumer spending has collapsed (by 10 percent) in comparison with the Eurozone average (less than 1 percent). Of course, consumer spending is [...]

On the eve of the Government’s job initiative Fianna Fail’s Michael Martin put it starkly:
‘Government’s don’t create jobs.’
This is straight from the kindergarten school of economics. Governments create jobs all the time. Let’s draw up a list.
1. The Government directly employs approximately 300,000 people in public services and administration: nurses, teachers, [...]

When publishing its submission to the Government in anticipation of the Jobs Initiative, IBEC’s Danny McCoy stated:
‘Business will provide the job opportunities that the country so desperately needs, but Government must ensure the conditions are right.’
This comes straight from the climatology school of enterprise development - the Government gets the ‘business climate’ right (low [...]