Employment rates rose for almost all groups of people post-pandemic, while unemployment and labour market inactivity generally fell, new findings show.
A new study from the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) explored the equality impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the labour market, comparing the situation pre and post-pandemic.
The study argues that the recovery was likely facilitated by large-scale state intervention during the pandemic in terms of employment and social welfare supports.
At their height, Covid-related employment schemes supported around one million individuals and 37,000 enterprises.
The report said that such schemes could be “usefully activated” in future labour market crises, if they were carefully designed and adequately resourced.
While employment recovered, the pattern of inequalities that existed before the pandemic are the same after the pandemic, it found.
There is also evidence that some groups have fallen further behind, for example people with lower education levels faired poorer than other groups, both in terms of labour market participation and the nature of work available to them, during the period.
The available data also highlights that disabled people’s economic activation pre and post-pandemic shows little change, which the authors of the report said underlines the need for “targeted employment strategies for historically marginalised groups”.
It also said that access to remote work was not evenly spread.
Some of the key findings include: Evidence suggests that the labour market impact during the Covid-19 pandemic was not evenly spread; Young people experienced the greatest falls in employment and participation; Higher education was found to be a protective factor, with much higher rates of employment among those with higher education levels throughout the period.
Eoin Roynane, commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, said: “The commission is clear that the State must be able to respond to crises that threaten economic, social and cultural rights, as the Covid-19 pandemic did.
“While the labour market has seen a remarkable recovery post-Covid-19 pandemic, highlighting the stabilising role of significant public investment, we know that inequality persists.
“It is critical now that the State embeds this learning, ensuring access to decent, quality work for all.
“We know that the impact of the pandemic was not evenly spread across all groups in society.
“I encourage the State to include a thorough examination of the impact of the pandemic on all groups, including those most marginalised and at risk of inequality, in its upcoming Covid-19 inquiry.”
Author of the report, Anousheh Alamir, of the ESRI, said: “Potentially the greatest legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Irish labour market has been the rise of remote working.
“Yet not all jobs can be performed remotely, and some groups, such as those with lower qualifications and those based in rural areas, have not shared equally in access to remote working.
“The full consequences of remote working have yet to play out and this underscores the importance of ongoing monitoring of its effects on work and workers.”
