“Analyse the current government’s argument that the nature of jobs created within an economy dictate the degree of success rather than the amount of jobs”.

1. Introduction

The Irish economy has changed greatly in the last Forty years. An educated workforce and Urbanisation of our towns and cities has seen an industry shift. There are a number of important factors that allowed this to happen so quickly. Ireland’s membership of alliances such as the E.U. and the O.E.C.D and the directives that were incurred as a result of these memberships.

More recently in the Nineties the economy had enjoyed a period of prosperity which was generally accredited to the provision of subsidies to knowledge based industries such as I.T., Financial Sectors and Research & Development. This coupled with a desirable location and a new highly educated workforce. As stated in the department of finances report in 2011 the economy experienced imbalances due to bad auditing systems in the banking and building sectors.

“The Irish economy was transformed over the past two decades. Per capita income rose strongly, converging towards and subsequently overtaking European average levels. However, from the early part of the last decade, imbalances began to emerge which made the economy increasingly vulnerable. A major property bubble began to unwind from 2007, and the fall-out from this was exacerbated by the major deterioration in the external environment. As a result, GDP has fallen by around 15% from its peak in Q4 2007.”(Dept of finance, Mar 2011)

The nature of jobs is a concept based on a number of variables integral to that employment. The government have become aware of resources the Irish workforce and economy possess that allow it to sustain growth here. The Irish government have now decided to champion Indigenous companies