Ireland. Economic growth and labour turnover. An overview

Abstract

Over the past decade Ireland has witnessed unprecedented economic growth, with growth figures on average 8 per cent per year, over the 6 years leading to 2000. A large factor attributing to this growth was Ireland's membership of the E.U., though a number of other factors are also discussed. This level of sustained Economic Growth brought with it, changes to both industry and the labour market, increasing competitiveness within organisation's, reducing unemployment in the 12 years to 2000, bringing the unemployment rate to an unprecedented low in 2001 of under 4 per cent. A very tight labour market ensued towards the end of the 20th century and into early 2001. Facing increased competitiveness, organisations were now facing employee recruitment and retention issues with labour turnover rapidly on the increase. The aim of this dissertation is to create an understanding of how increased Economic Growth rates may impact on labour turnover. This dissertation begins by assessing Ireland's growth rate over the past 13 years to 2001, it studies the performance of Ireland's previously recessionary economy and reasons for the unprecedented growth phase. Research is conducted into the current Labour Force including, levels of employment and unemployment and from this current levels of labour turnover are evaluated. A number of questionnaires were posted to a cross section of organisations, attempting to identify whether this increase in labour turnover does correlate with increased levels of economic activity, and to estimate the impact on at organisational level of labour turnover. This research concludes that yes, there has been an increase in labour turnover in line with increased economic growth, and the increased economic activity does in-fact provide a corridor for employees to become more selective and affords employees more opportunities to change jobs and organisations.