The Earnings of Immigrants in Ireland: Results from the 2005 EU Survey of Income and Living Conditions

27 Pages Posted: 5 Sep 2007

See all articles by Alan Barrett

Alan Barrett

Economic and Social Research Institute; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Yvonne McCarthy

Economic and Social Research Institute, Ireland

Date Written: August 2007

Abstract

This paper has three objectives. First, a review of the developing body of work on the economics of immigration in Ireland is provided. Second, the analysis undertaken by Barrett and McCarthy (forthcoming) of earnings of immigrants in Ireland is updated. Third, the earnings of immigrant women are assessed to see if they experience a "double disadvantage". Among other findings, the review of the emerging literature points to immigrants faring less well in the Irish labour market relative to native employees. As regards the analysis conducted in this paper, we find that immigrants were earning 15 percent less than comparable natives employees in 2005. For immigrants from non-English speaking countries, the wage disadvantage was 20 percent. The corresponding figure for immigrants from the EU's New Member States was 31 percent. A double disadvantage is found for immigrant women, with the earnings of female immigrants found to be 14 percent less than those of comparable native female employees. This double disadvantage is concentrated among female immigrants with third level degrees.

Keywords: immigrants' earnings, Ireland

JEL Classification: J61

Suggested Citation

Barrett, Alan M. and McCarthy, Yvonne, The Earnings of Immigrants in Ireland: Results from the 2005 EU Survey of Income and Living Conditions (August 2007). IZA Discussion Paper No. 2990, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1012371 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1012371

Alan M. Barrett (Contact Author)

Economic and Social Research Institute ( email )

4 Burlington Road
Dublin 4
Republic of Ireland
+35 31 667 1525 (Phone)
+35 31 668 6231 (Fax)

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Yvonne McCarthy

Economic and Social Research Institute, Ireland ( email )

Dublin 4
Ireland

HOME PAGE: http://www.esri.ie/getstaff.cfm?id=1&mId=1&staffid=128

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