Ireland's UN SDG's - Goal 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth 2021

Goal 8.  Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

Since the late 1950’s Ireland has adopted a policy of openness to international trade and foreign direct investment.  This, together with investment in education and infrastructure, allowed Ireland to benefit from globalisation and the growth in world trade.  The result has been strong economic growth as living standards in Ireland converged with Western Europe.  Ireland has successfully developed foreign and indigenous industry in high value sectors such as Engineering, Chemicals, Medical Devices and Information and Communication Technology.  Export led growth has created well-paying jobs and has contributed to returns to the exchequer and regional development.  It has also strengthened the resilience of the Irish economy and powered the recovery from the financial crisis.  In 2019, Ireland’s GDP reached €356 billion and total employment reached 2.471 million.

In 2021, we are faced with another crisis in the form of a pandemic.  The scale of the challenge is at least equal to the financial crisis with the COVID-19 adjusted unemployment rate above 15 percent and a significant increase in Government borrowing with an estimated total cost to fight the pandemic in 2020 alone of €24.6 billion.  However, this is not the only challenge to employment and economic growth that we face. In addition:

• The implications of Brexit are still playing out for Irish firms;
• The pace of technological change and its adaptation by society is ever-quickening;
• The imperatives of climate action mean we must accelerate the decarbonisation of our economy;
• The demographics of our society, and an aging population, put pressures on welfare, pensions and services, and on a generation coming forward whose jobs do not yet exist;
• The productivity of our domestically owned small and medium enterprises lags far behind the foreign owned firms.

The National Economic Recovery Plan embraces these challenges and forges a pathway towards a renewed and inclusive economy and society.  The Plan sets out a framework for renewal and for building a lasting and inclusive jobs-led recovery in 2021 and beyond.

As Ireland moves into the recovery phase, the economy will not return to its pre-pandemic state. There will be permanent changes in the labour market as well as structural shifts in certain sectors, an accelerated trend towards e-commerce, significant changes to working patterns, and a potential mis-match between the skills-set of workers and the needs of firms, at least in short-term.

The Plan outlines several key objectives, each supported by a set of specific deliverables:

• ensuring we have sustainable public finances,
• investing in the infrastructure and capabilities we need for a jobs lead recovery, future success and to facilitate the digital and green transition,
• making enterprises and sectors more resilient, especially SMEs and those worst affected by the pandemic, so they can grow and create jobs,
• building an inclusive and regionally balanced recovery through investment, labour market activation and skills, better regional balance, and a focus on well-being and living standards, and
• preparing for profound changes arising from decarbonisation and technological change build on through innovation and knowledge and building up the skills base of our people.

Building resilience in enterprise and sectors will be a core component of the plan, driven by sustaining and growing the SME sector, nurturing foreign direct investment in an increasingly competitive environment, boosting SME productivity and competitiveness, driving enterprise innovation and supporting technology adoption and the digital transformation of enterprises.

A recent ESRI study has found that certain cohorts in the labour force such as young workers (18-24 years), people with disabilities, ethnic minorities, lone parents and those with lower educational attainment face greater challenges in accessing decent work when compared to the general population.  They also found over a period of labour market growth (2014-2019), while group differences were maintained, employment rates grew for many of these groups.  This highlights the importance of the availability of jobs and growth in the labour market for different groups’ ability to realise the right to work.

Considering these challenges and opportunities, the set of indicators contained in this report for SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth provide a good basis for assessing progress to date.