The Roles of Foreign Labour and Foreign Firms in the Irish Economy: An Empirical Analysis

The focus of this thesis is upon the role of foreign labour and foreign firms in the Irish economy. Chapter 1 presents an introduction to the overall thesis, while the historical context for the Irish economy is presented in Chapter 2. The empirical analysis presented in Chapter 3 explains occupational attainment in Ireland. With respect to occupational outcomes for foreign and indigenous workers, the Irish workers were found to be likely to occupy the professional posts. Foreign born workers who had resided in Ireland for less than ten years were less likely to find employment in the higher skilled occupations, while those workers who had resided for more than ten years in Ireland were likely to working in associate professional posts.

Chapter 4 utilises a Mincerian wage equation to examine potential earnings differentials between Irish and non-Irish workers in the Irish labour market. Random effects estimates are analysed. The findings suggest that Irish workers earned less per hour than non-Irish workers, while non-Irish workers who took up Irish citizenship received higher levels of hourly pay then those non-Irish workers without Irish citizenship.

Chapter 5 presents a production function analysis of firms in the Irish manufacturing sector. Using a Cobb-Douglas specification, firm nationality is found to have no impact upon output in the Irish manufacturing sector, while the output of Irish firms is linked to both family labour and outside piece workers, no such relationship is found for foreign firms.