Monitoring decent work in Ireland

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Monitoring Decent Work
in Ireland
DATE
Wednesday June 2nd
AUTHORS
Frances McGinnity
Helen Russell
Ivan Privalko
Shannen Enright

@ESRIDublin #ESRIevents #ESRIpublications www.esri.ie
2 2 June 2021
Monitoring Decent Work: Motivation
• Work is core to people’s livelihood, their identity and their well-
being.
• It is also a key socio-economic right. These rights are universal
but some groups get left behind
• Monitor can highlight at-risk groups, inform international
monitoring, highlight gaps and to inform public debate
• Decent Work affects other socio-economic rights like health
and housing, social inclusion
• Broad in scope, no detailed analysis of processes
• Establish a pre-pandemic baseline

Decent work in international standards
• Right to decent work recognised and prominent in the UN International
Convention on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights (ICESCR) Ireland has
ratified:
“Work as specified in article 6 of the Covenant must be decent work. This is work
that respects the fundamental rights of the human person as well as the rights of
workers in terms of conditions of work, safety, and remuneration. It also provides
an income allowing workers to support themselves and their families... These
fundamental rights also include respect for the physical and mental integrity of
the worker in the exercise of his/her employment”
• States commit to progressive realization of these rights
• HR approach also commits to non-discrimination
• Employment also features in other UN treaties (eg CEDAW, CERD, CRPD)

Monitoring Decent Work: What we do
• 1. Consider a range of internationally validated measurement
frameworks of decent work and consult a range of
stakeholders in Ireland
• 2. From ‘long-list’, select six dimensions of work and best
available indicators to measure these
• 3. Uses existing high-quality representative national data to
present these indicators for different groups
➢Different data sources/years for different indicators
➢Some gaps in what we can measure - both groups and
aspects of work
➢Some parallels with indicators of well-being development

5 2 June 2021
What counts as Decent Work?
• Six dimensions:
Access to work Adequate Earnings
Employee Voice
Security and
Stability
Equality of Opportunity
& Treatment
Health and Safety
• Needed to limit dimensions covered – trade-offs here
• Consider these separately – not a combined ‘Decent Work index’

Main Indicators of Decent Work
Dimension Indicator
1 Access to Work
Employment Rate
Unemployment Rate
Professional/Managerial Occupations
2 Adequate Earnings Low Pay Rates (hourly and weekly)
3 Employee Voice
Trade Union/ Staff Association
Membership
Job Control
4 Stability and Security of Work Temporary Job
5 Equal Opportunity for and
Treatment in Employment
Experience of discrimination in the
Workplace
Experience of discrimination seeking
Work
6 Health and Safety
Work Related Illness Rate
Work-related Injury Rate

Whose outcomes? Protected Characteristics
& Equality ‘groups’
Membership
of Traveller
Community
Race/ethnicity/
Nationality/
Origin country
Gender Disability
Religion
Family
Status
Civil Status
Sexual
Orientation
Age
Source: Employment Equality Acts 1998-2015. ***Socio-economic status under consideration.
*Social origin
(Education)

82 June 2021
ACCESS: Employment rates (LFS, 2019, ILO)
Notes: LFS 2019, Q1-Q4 pooled, working-age population (aged 18-64). ILO=International Labour Organisation
73
79
68
56
81
71
73
71
83
79
68
78
41
76
79
64
63
71
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Overall
Male
Female
18-24
25-44
45-64
Ireland
UK
EU West
EU East
Non-EU
No
Yes
Couple, no children
Couple with children
Lone parent
Living with parents
Living alone
Gender
Age
Country
of
Birth
Disabilit
y**
2019
Household
Type

9 2 June 2021
Employment rates (Census, 2016, PES)
59
49
52
50
56
41
63
57
52
11
66
42
57
52
53
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Male
Female
Catholic
Church of Ireland/England/Anglican/Episcopalian
Other Christian
Muslim
No Religion
Other Religion
White Irish
White Irish Traveller
Any other white background
Black
Asian
Other ethnicity
Population Employment
Gender
Religion
Ethnicity
Tot
al
.
Notes: Census, 2016. Proportions of population aged 15 or over whose principal economic status is working for pay or profit.

10 6/2/2021
Adequate Earnings: Employees on Low Pay (<2/3
Median Hourly Earnings) 2018 and 2019
22
20
24
60
20
15
17
17
32
32
16
26
21
16
38
25
Overall
Male
Female
18-24
25-44
45-64
1 Adult household
2 Adult household
3 or More Adults Household
Lone parent Household
2 Adults with Children
Other Households with Children
Irish
UK & EU West
EU East
Non-EU
Gender
Age
Household
Type
Nationality
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Notes: Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC), employees working full-time and part-time, aged 18-64.

11 2 June 2021
Trade Union/Staff Association Membership rate (LFS, 2019)
26
22
29
9
23
35
29
24
9
9
16
26
30
21
30
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Overall
Male
Female
18-24
25-44
45-64
Ireland
UK
EU West
EU East
Non-EU
No
Yes
No third level education
Third level education
Gender
Age
Country
of
Birth
Disability
**
2019
Educa
tion
Notes: Labour Force Survey (2019, Q1-Q4). All employees aged 18-64.

12 2 June 2021
Temporary Work (LFS, 2019)
9
8
10
33
6
5
9
9
9
5
11
9
11
11
7
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Overall
Male
Female
18-24
25-44
45-64
Ireland
UK
EU West
EU East
Non-EU
No
Yes
No third level education
Third level education
Gender
Age
Country
of
Birth
Disability
**
2019
Educa
tion
Notes: Labour Force Survey (2019, Q1-Q4) All employees aged 18-64.

13 2 June 2021
Experience of Discrimination at Work (General Household
Survey 2019)
7
5
9
7
20
14
7
6
11
7
11
5
9
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
All
Male
Female
White Ethnic Background
Other Ethnic Background
Yes
No
Catholic
Other
Irish
Other
No Third Level Education
Third Level Education
Gender
Ethnicity
Disability
Religion
Nationalit
y
Educat
ional
Level
Notes: GHQ Equality Module (Quarter 1, 2019). Excludes those who had not been at work in 2 years prior to survey.

Data Gaps: what we don’t know
• What gets counted, counts.
• Lack of data on informal work, and on unpaid work in the home
• A general lack of data on working conditions in Ireland: work pressure,
work-family conflict, job satisfaction
• Religion, ethnicity, gender identity and sexual orientation or social
origin are typically not measured on survey data (few exceptions)
• In particular, data on job quality not available for minority ethnic
groups (including Irish Travellers)
6/2/2021

Key messages
• In 2019 (pre-pandemic) employment rates where high for most
groups, with exceptions (Irish Travellers, Black ethnic group, those
with a disability)
• Some groups tend to have less access to Decent Work: Younger
workers, East European migrants, those with a disability and lone
parents
• Report establishes a baseline for future monitoring
• The COVID pandemic has seriously affected employment in Ireland –
full effect remains to be seen
6/2/2021

Thanks for listening! Comments welcome
Want to read more:
https://www.esri.ie/publications/monitoring-decent-work-in-
ireland
Research programme funded by IHREC here:
https://www.esri.ie/current-research/human-rights-and-
equality-research-programme
The next report in the programme, Monitoring Adequate
Housing in Ireland, will be published later this summer.

Monitoring decent work in Ireland

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