In a previous post we saw that public sector labour costs are below-average by EU-15 standards. The argument that Irish public sector workers are ‘over-paid’ in relation to their European counterparts holds no water whatsoever. However, that doesn’t answer the charge that, regardless of comparative costs, we just have to cut public sector wages because [...]

Ireland after NAMA has an interesting blog post which links to Ronan Lyons assumptions about whether those running NAMA have got their assumptions right with regard to the “fall from peak to time-of-tranfer, the yield, and how yields might correct”. The writer goes on to say that “given the drop in land values, the oversupply [...]

With industrial action in the public sector ramping up a couple of notches, it is worth revisiting a couple of issues in relation to pay. A critical issue is the fiscal benefit or otherwise that accrues to the Exchequer from cutting public sector wages - I will examine this in the next post. Here, let’s [...]

Profitable companies are using the current economic crisis to weaken terms and conditions of employment and drive down wages of some of the countries lowest paid workers according to a new report published by Mandate.
‘Milking The Recession‘, launched by the retail sector trade union earlier this month claims that there is “an aggressive and determined” [...]

The latest CSO figures showing a decrease in the cost of living have prompted employer groups to renew calls for a decrease in the minimum wage. However, on closer examination, the CPI reveals several increased costs which, combined with welfare cuts, push many people further into poverty.
The cost of living has decreased by 3.9% from [...]

Yesterday evening I was on Matt Cooper’s The Last Word (5:00 segment) with a representative from IBEC discussing wage levels. I quoted the numbers from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Eurostat and Destatis (German Statistical Board) to show that Irish labour costs are not high; indeed, they’re rather low by comparison with our EU [...]

I think - but would be happy to be corrected - that one of the weaknesses with the Left is a shortage of ambitious and feasible policy ideas to change a key source of inequality in Western economies: the scale of the inequality in the income that those who are in employment receive for their [...]

Imagine you’re walking a high-wire. You’re nearly at the end of line. You’re doing everything possible not to fall - balancing with your arms, moving snail-like, praying; the last thing you need is for some messer to start shaking the wire. That’s exactly what the Government is preparing to do as it mulls over its [...]

In a previous post on Progressive-Economy.ie, where I disputed the economic benefits of cutting wages, Professor Alan Mathews and Pavement Trauma questioned aspects of my analysis, raising important issues which deserve a considered response. For this goes beyond ‘what wage levels are best’; it is about defining what the critical issues behind our competitiveness and [...]

Stop the Presses!
‘Irish workers earn 4th highest wages in the world!’  ‘Irish workers one of the best paid in the world!’ ‘Wages for Dubliners are among the highest in the world!’
So, all that guff from trade unions and progressives and (and as we will see - just about every official data collection agency) is just [...]