Ireland’s immigration policies (1997–present): Links to global trends of labour division and effects on national labour market structure

Feature

Ireland’s immigrationpolicies (1997–present):Links to global trends oflabour division and effectson national labourmarket structure

Siobhan R McPheeUniversity of British Columbia, Canada

Abstract

Ireland’s economic growth (1992–2007) was fuelled by availability of capital, but also through

access to cheap flexible labour. This article attempts to provide evidence that the Irish state

played a central role in facilitating and shaping labour supply, a role that has resulted in the

clustering of non-Irish workers in particular sectors of the labour market. Worker mobility

across national borders takes place at the intersection of global economic trends and local or

regional labour market development, thus creating global consistency in the operation of local or

regional markets and demand for workers; however, each labour market is unique as each creates

its own local and global social relations. The state, as a main actor in the formulation of immi-

gration policies and in shaping labour market structure, has a central role in affecting the nature of

the interconnection between global and local. The analysis considers how Ireland’s immigration

policies, as they reflect global labour trends, contribute to the clustering of certain migrants in

particular sectors. The method of analysis involves a three-step numerical analysis of clustering:

(1) percentages, (2) ODDS ratios and (3) two-step cluster analysis. Results suggest the existence

of economic clustering and channelling of workers into specific jobs linked back to immigration

policies and recruitment drives.

Keywords

clustering, Dublin, immigration polices, Ireland, location quotients, ODDs ratio, segmented labour

markets

Corresponding author:

Siobhan R McPhee, Department of Geography, University

of British Columbia, 1984 West Mall Vancouver, BC V6T

1Z2, Canada.

Email: [email protected]

Local Economy

2014, Vol. 29(6–7) 579–597

! The Author(s) 2014

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An overview of Irishimmigration

Ireland’s historical demographic and migra-tion profile is unique, particularly in theWestern European context (Mac Einrı andWhite, 2008). The famine of the 1840s wasthe beginning of a long period of emigrationfrom Ireland lasting until the late 1950s,during which local population levels neverincreased. A new Taoiseach (PrimeMinister), Sean Lemass (1959–1966),brought Ireland more into the folds ofEurope with job creation, an improvedeconomy and the eventual joining of theEuropean Economic Community in 1973(Garvin, 2009). These factors led to adecline in emigration and in fact a 22%increase in population (Mac Einrı, 2001)as Irish emigrants returned to Ireland withtheir families. Recession ensued in the 1980sleading to renewed emigration to a return toemigration as unemployment rates reached16% (Central Statistics Office).

The emergence of the Celtic Tiger eco-nomic boom saw growth in employmentand the economy and inward multinationalinvestment (primarily in the IT andpharmaceutical sectors). Ireland was sud-denly experiencing an inflow of migrants;however, it is important to note, especiallyin the earlier years of the Celtic Tiger, that alarge proportion of these were returnee Irishfrom the 1980s emigration flow (Gilmartin,2004). The numbers seeking asylum peakedat 11,634 in 2002 before dropping to 7900 in2003, and 4304 in 2005 (Mac Einrı andCoakley, 2007; Ruhs, 2004). For most ofthe late 1990s, the majority of asylum see-kers came from Africa and until 1999 54%of these came from three countries: Nigeria,the Democratic Republic of Congo andAlgeria (Faughnan and Woods, 2000). In1999, the situation changed as mostasylum applicants came from Romania.

Prior to the 1990s, few immigrants cameto Ireland who were neither of Irish nor

British background, and non-EU immigra-tion, aside from professionals in the multi-national sector, was insignificant (Barrettet al., 2006). This changed dramatically atthe end of the 1990s, and immigrantsincluded workers on short-term work per-mits, asylum seekers and students. The resulthas been that 486,300 people moved toIreland in the period whilst 263,800 peopleemigrated, resulting in net immigration of222,500 (Central Statistics Office). Net immi-gration continued until the onset of the Irishrecession in 2007 and the global financialcrash in 2008 (Ruhs and Quinn, 2009).

Linked to the immigration trends was theskills shortage problem which Ireland facedwith surges in Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) and export demand in the ICT andpharmaceutical sectors between 1995 and2002 (Barrett et al., 2006). This was fol-lowed by six years of growth due to thebubble period of property-price inflationthat yielded high levels of transactionbased tax revenue and triggered unsustain-able levels of expenditure (Honohan, 2010).Growth, during the period 1995–2008, ini-tially due to FDIs followed by property-price inflation, occurred across the economyspecifically in the low-skilled service sector.A good example of this market expansioncan be seen in the Irish hospitality sector,considered one of the major indicators ofgrowth as an economy booms and grows(Cangiano 2008; Cholewinski, 2005). Atthe height of the bubble period, the servicessector accounted for 66% of the economy(Central Statistics Office). The rapid expan-sion of the services sector created labourshortages in both high-skilled and low-skilled jobs as the demand could not bemet by the Irish labour force (Turner, 2010).

State policies and migrantworkers

With the growing labour shortages, specif-ically in the service sector of the economy,

580 Local Economy 29(6–7)



immigration became a labour source, withworkers selected through work permitschemes, the Green Card scheme andthrough full labour market access for 2004EU accession countries. The ‘Jobs IrelandCampaign’,1 financed through governmentgrants, was aimed particularly at highskilled sectors with large labour shortages.This campaign continued until 2002 when itwas decided it had ‘successfully achieved itsobjectives’ (O’Byrne of FAS, cited inHayward and Howard, 2007: 49).Involvement of the Department ofEnterprise and Employment in formulatingrecruitment policy highlights the import-ance of the state in connecting labourdemand and immigration, i.e. in doing soimmigration is considered as a form oflabour supply. The work permit scheme,modelled on that of guest worker pro-grammes in France and Germany, wasintroduced in 1999 with a 700% increasein the number of permits issued between1999 and 2003 (Ruhs, 2005: 15).

The Irish State adopted a more interven-tionist approach to work migration (Ruhs,2005), a fact further illustrated when theIrish government chose to allow full accessto labour markets for 2004 accession work-ers. The belief was that this new flow oflabour would fill gaps in the labourmarket, though this policy was not grantedto the 2007 accession countries of Bulgariaand Romania due to changes in the outlookfor economic growth. Hence, rather thanhaving a more liberated and enlightenedposition, the Irish State illustrates a degreeof ambiguity to the mechanisms of demandfor labour.

Table 1 provides an outline of the differ-ent policies, recruitment drives, permits andvisas available to migrant workers inIreland. The first column outlines the spe-cific recruitment drive or policy that con-tributed to immigration into Ireland. Therole of the Irish state is outlined in thesecond column with the specific sectors

that benefitted in the third column. Thefourth column illustrates how each of therecruitment drives or policies is linked tobroader theoretical and empirical discus-sions. The final column highlights worker‘place of birth’ links to specific recruitmentdrives or policies. Links between economicgrowth, state action and immigration policyissues are evident, and have led to the chan-nelling of workers into sectors and jobs.

Approaching spatial clusteringanalysis

While international migrations areembedded in larger geopolitical and trans-national economic dynamics, the formationof national politics and the impact of theseon the individual workers are in the realmof the nation state (Sassen, 1998). The resultof the exercise of power by the state and itsrole in linking the dialectical interconnec-tion between the global and the local(Massey, 2005) are the subject of thispaper. Policies of the Irish state are ana-lysed to evaluate how they facilitate andbenefit from the existence of global supplyof labour. The impact of these immigrationpolicies on the Irish labour market is mea-sured through an adoption of SegmentedLabour Market (SLM) theory, specificallythe spatial segmentation of workers. Socialprocesses are spatial processes (Jessop et al.,2008) and all workers have spatial relation-ships that tie them into the local labourmarket.

Geographers have been trying to tacklelabour regulation by reconstructing the con-cept of the local labour market within a pol-itical economy framework. ‘Local labourmarkets are man-made, not neutral, andare structured according to power, not neu-tral rules of demand and supply’ (Clark,1983: 2). There is not a perfect fit betweenlabour supply and labour demand as labourmarket roles are not created in isolationfrom the structure of society, and

McPhee 581



Tab

le1.

Imm

igra

tion

polic

yan

dlin

kw

ith

labour

mar

ket.

2

Recr

uitm

ent

dri

ve/p

olic

ySt

ate

invo

lvem

ent/

role

Sect

ors

benefit

ing

Pro

pose

dlin

kto

global

or

tran

snat

ional

div

isio

nof

labour

Polic

ych

ange

and

the

impac

ton

speci

fic‘p

lace

of

bir

th’w

ork

ers

Jobs

for

Irela

nd

Cam

pai

gn

1999–2002

3G

ove

rnm

ent

gran

ts

ww

w.e

nte

mp.ie

/pre

ss/

2000/1

30500.h

tm

Rece

nt

Iris

hem

igra

nts

(1980s)

filldem

and

in

ITan

dfin

ance

sect

ors

Cultura

llin

ks

and

fam

ily

ties

still

inexis

tence

;

‘eas

y’netw

ork

tota

p

Vert

ove

c(2

003)

Iris

hre

turn

ees

(1980s)

Inte

rnat

ional

job

fair

s/

labour

atta

che

4Expert

Gro

up

on

Futu

re

Skill

s(E

GFS

N)

and

Nat

ional

Tra

inin

gan

d

Em

plo

yment

Age

ncy

(FA

S)in

itia

tive

with

gove

rnm

ent

repre

sen-

tative

atfa

irs

and

in

em

bas

syta

sked

with

recr

uitin

g,sp

eci

fical

ly

India

and

the

Phili

ppin

es

Work

ers

fillga

ps

inth

eIT

and

heal

thse

ctors

Cultura

lca

pital

and

stere

oty

pin

g–

Bau

der

(2001)

South

Asi

ans

inIT

Filip

ino

and

India

nnurs

es

South

Asi

anan

dA

fric

an

doct

ors

Work

ing

Vis

a

Auth

ori

zation

Pro

gram

(WVA

P)

and

Work

Perm

itSc

hem

e(W

PS)

1999–2003

5

WVA

P1999–2006

(repla

ced

with

Gre

en

Car

d)

targ

ete

dat

hig

hly

skill

ed

sect

ors

UntilA

pri

l2003,W

PS

were

alm

ost

entire

ly

em

plo

yer-

led,w

ith

work

ers

recr

uited

in

any

sect

or

from

any

countr

youts

ide

of

the

then

EU

-15

WVA

P:IT

,heal

thco

nsu

lt-

ants

,th

ird

leve

leduca

-

tion

and

finan

cial

sect

ors

Thre

eof

every

four

per-

mits

betw

een

1999

and

2003

inth

elo

w-s

kill

ed

sect

or.

Ato

talof

150

diff

ere

nt

nat

ional

itie

s

Clu

steri

ng

of

mig

rant

work

forc

ebas

ed

on

cert

ain

soci

alch

arac

-

teri

stic

s(M

cDow

ell

et

al.,

2007,2008;W

ills

et

al.,

2010)

creat

ing

a

div

isio

nbetw

een

WVA

Pan

dW

PS.

Nort

hA

meri

cans,

Aust

ralia

n,N

ew

Zeal

and

inIT

,Fi

nan

cial

and

Educa

tional

sec-

tors

.

Eas

tern

Euro

pean

s,

Afr

ican

,C

hin

ese

and

South

Asi

ans

inlo

w-

skill

ed

sect

ors

Work

Perm

itSc

hem

e

post

-acc

ess

ion

6T

he

‘Inte

rventionis

t’

Em

plo

yment

Perm

its

Fall

inth

enum

ber

oflo

w-

skill

ed

sect

or

work

Exis

tence

of

netw

ork

sof

recr

uitm

ent

and

Work

ers

inIT

and

inlo

w-

skill

ed

serv

ice

sect

or

(continued)




Tab

le1.

Continued.

Recr

uitm

ent

dri

ve/p

olic

ySt

ate

invo

lvem

ent/

role

Sect

ors

benefit

ing

Pro

pose

dlin

kto

global

or

tran

snat

ional

div

isio

nof

labour

Polic

ych

ange

and

the

impac

ton

speci

fic‘p

lace

of

bir

th’

work

ers

Act

publis

hed

inA

pri

l

2003

enco

ura

ged

issu

e

ofw

ork

perm

its

toEU

-

10

countr

ies

set

tojo

in

in2004

perm

itap

plic

atio

ns.

BU

Tth

enum

ber

of

new

work

perm

its

gran

ted

tonon-E

U

work

ers

rem

ained

const

ant

pre

fere

nce

sfo

rce

rtai

n

work

ers

(Wal

din

ger,

2003)

from

Afr

ica,

Chin

a,

South

Asi

aan

d

Mau

ritius

EU

acce

ssio

n2004

and

2007

(Full

labor

mar

ket

acce

ssto

EU

-10)7

Move

on

the

par

tof

the

stat

eto

filllo

w-s

kill

ed

sect

or,

from

within

EU

Rom

ania

and

Bulg

aria

join

ed

inJa

nuar

y2007

with

rest

rict

ed

em

plo

yment

righ

tsbut

more

flexib

leth

annon-

EU

Alm

ost

100%

of

EU

-10

mig

rants

em

plo

yed

in

low

-skill

ed

sect

or

Sim

ilar

figure

sfo

r

Rom

ania

and

Bulg

aria

Am

ove

inIr

ela

nd

and

West

ern

Euro

pe

in

genera

lto

‘elim

inat

e’

imm

igra

tion

from

out-

side

its

bord

ers

(Holli

field

,2004).

‘Eas

y’

supply

of

labour

will

ing

tow

ork

har

d

Work

ers

cam

efr

om

Pola

nd,L

atvi

a,Lithuan

ia

and

Rom

ania

Recr

uitm

ent

inac

cess

ion

countr

ies8

Em

plo

yer

led

speci

fical

ly

from

larg

ech

ains

active

lyre

cruitin

g

work

ers

toco

me

to

work

inIr

ela

nd

and

the

UK

Low

-skill

ed

sect

or

par

-

ticu

larl

yin

food

and

agri

cultura

lse

ctors

Am

ove

inIr

ela

nd

and

West

ern

Euro

pe

in

genera

lto

‘elim

inat

e’

imm

igra

tion

from

out-

side

its

bord

ers

(Holli

field

,2004).

‘Eas

y’

supply

of

labour

will

ing

tow

ork

har

d

See

pre

vious

row

Gre

en

Car

dsy

stem

–

repla

ces

WVA

P9

Intr

oduce

din

May

2005

Recr

uitm

ent

bas

ed

on

expect

ed

ear

nin

gs.

Thre

shold

set

at

$86,0

00

(E60,0

00)

per

annum

Acr

iteri

on

sele

cts

only

those

inhig

h-s

kill

ed

sect

or,

with

hig

h-

expect

ed

ear

nin

gs

Sam

enat

ional

itie

sas

WVA

Pin

heal

th,fin

an-

cial

,educa

tion

and

IT

McPhee 583



‘undesirable’ jobs or conditions can only bedefined and filled when there are individualsto accept them (Piore and Doeringer, 1971);therefore matching people with jobs issocially constructed (Bauder, 2001). Withthe adoption of SLM, there is an acknow-ledgment of the fundamental role that geo-graphical theory must play in looking at therelationship between the local labourmarket and state structure, and the impactof the spatial division of labour (Castreeet al., 2004). Hence supply of and demandfor labour along with the role of the stateshould be understood as autonomous butequally influential factors in local labourmarket processes. This paper does notintend to tackle all sides of the triad ofSLM (supply, demand and the state), butfocuses on the specifics of the Irish state’simmigration policies with regard to labourmigrants and how these led to spatial clus-tering of workers in specific jobs. Capitaldoes not create particular roles for thesemigrant groups through the combinationof specific demographic conditions (wheremigrant workers come from) and thenature of the state (Peck, 1996), but itdoes exploit their existence (Bauder, 2001).

In linking relationships between eco-nomic change, immigration policies andsocial characteristics of workers, spatialclustering analysis, focusing on the industryof employment, can offer an overview ofevidence of spatial segmentation in thelabour market. As stated in the opening sec-tion, a geographical approach plays a fun-damental role with its focus on the locallabour market and the role of the state inhow this translates into a greater under-standing of broader national and inter-national market structure. Rather thanattempting to state conclusively that seg-mented labour markets exist in Ireland (anintrinsically difficult analysis to do), the aimis to establish that the Irish state had/has arole in creating and maintaining spatial seg-mentation within the local labour market

(Massey, 2005, 2007). The analysis offersbroad and initial indication of the possibil-ity of existing labour market inequalities,which may be evidence of segmentedlabour market (McDowell et al., 2008,2009). In Australia, Chiswick et al. (2003)illustrate the geographical concentration ofdifferent immigrant groups across the coun-try, with the framework including variablesassociated with labour market processes. In‘Global Cities at Work’, Wills et al. (2010)focus on the industrial concentration ofimmigrants, specifically in temporary low-paid jobs in London’s metropolitan area.Such jobs exist because of economic devel-opment approaches adopted by the UKsince the 1980s.

Methodological approach

Ireland is a small economy in terms of thespectrum of economic activities and henceindustrial classification is selected as theempirical tool to most accurately capture thestructure of the economy and provide evi-dence of spatial clustering. Data from theCentral Statistics Office (CSO) in the form ofthe national census as well as the QuarterlyNational Household Survey (QNHS) areused to perform the analysis. The variable‘place of birth’ rather than nationality or citi-zenship is selectedas the dependent variable inanalysing distribution across industrial sec-tors. There are two reasons for this selection:the first is that it provides the most significantbreakdown of different nationalities in theIrish labour market; the second is the natureof recent immigration to Ireland, whichmeans that the majority of migrant workershavenotobtained Irish citizenshipor perman-ent residency.

Three-step analysis

Although the outline of immigration policychanges (see final column of Table 1) indi-cates a relationship with the ‘place of birth’




of workers coming into Ireland, further evi-dence is required to establish whether or notgroups of workers are spatially segmentedin certain jobs. The analysis that followsprovides a three-step process in the presen-tation of evidence of clustering of workersof certain ‘place of birth’ in particular sec-tors in the labour market. The initial sourceis percentage evidence based on ‘place ofbirth’ and sector of employment (Souza-Poza, 2004). To further verify industrialand spatial segmentation in the Irishlabour market by non-Irish ‘place ofbirth’, an ODDs ratio analysis is appliedfollowed by application of a two-step clus-ter analysis (Ellis et al., 2004, 2007).

Step 1. Labour market percentage distribution by

‘place of birth’. Table 2 illustrates the per-centage distribution breakdown of workersin the major migrant receiving sectors. Thetable shows the percentage by industry foreach ‘place of birth’ region as a percentageof the total for that specific ‘place of birth’region. Workers whose ‘place of birth’ isPoland, Lithuania, Other EU 15–25 andOther European are concentrated in theindustrial categories of manufacturing, con-struction, wholesale and retail, and hoteland restaurant work. In linking it back tothe role of the state and immigration policy,the decision to grant full working rights toEU accession countries in 2004 was deter-mined by demand in these sectors and led toa dramatic drop in the number of workpermit applications (see Table 1). Othertrends appear such as the Africa ‘place ofbirth’ in real estate, renting and businessactivity industry. Many of the Africa‘place of birth’ arrived as refugees, butover time have set up small businesses inmany urban centres, but specifically incounties Laois and Louth as these werethe towns where they were first housed bythe state on arrival (CSO, 2011; Fanninget al., 2000; Guerin, 2002). Workers fromAsia ‘place of birth’ are 30% more likely

to be employed in health and social workthan any other industry, a direct result ofstate recruitment drives for nurses and doc-tors in Asia (see Table 1).

Step 2. ODDs Ratio. The second step calcu-lates the likelihood of the employment of aparticular non-Irish group in a specificindustry compared to Irish counterparts orthe ODDS ratio.10 ODDs ratio measuresthe effect size, describing the strength ofthe relationship between ‘place of birth’and sector of employment. This descriptivetest illustrates each migrant worker groupcompared to their Irish counterpart. AnODDS ratio (OR) of less than 1 impliesthat employment (E) is less concentratedcompared to others; if OR is equal to 1then E has the same concentration com-pared to others; and if OR is greater than1 then E is more concentrated compared toothers. In this research, an industrial clusteris defined as one in which the ODDS ratio is1.5 or greater (Wang and Pandit, 2007;Hudson, 2003; Wright and Ellis, 2000).Table 3 provides a summary of the mostsignificant ODDS ratio based on the dataanalysis.

Results further emphasise the percentagedistribution analysis illustrating the concen-tration of female migrant workers fromEastern Europe, specifically Lithuania, inagriculture. The presence of a very highODDs ratio of Asian male migrant workersin the hotels and restaurant sector also con-curs with the percentage distribution ana-lysis, and further illustrates the lowincidence of Irish workers, specificallymales, in this sector. The ODDs ratio high-lights the area of business activities, asaddressed in step 1 with percentage concen-tration of Africa ‘place of birth’, beingattributed possibly to workers from this‘place of birth’ region engaging in the grow-ing number of ethnic businesses in urbancentres (Birdthistle, 2012, Cooney andFlynn, 2008). The ODDs ratios in terms of

McPhee 585



Tab

le2.

Dis

trib

ution

of

work

ers

(%)

within

eac

hin

dust

ryby

‘pla

ceof

bir

th’–

Dat

afr

om

2006

Irela

nd

censu

s.

Indust

rial

Gro

up

Agr

iculture

,

Fore

stry

and

fishin

g

Man

ufa

cturi

ng

indust

ries

Const

ruct

ion

Whole

sale

and

reta

il

trad

e

Hote

lsan

d

rest

aura

nts

Real

est

ate,

renting

and

busi

ness

activi

ty

Heal

th

and

soci

al

work

Plac

eof

birt

h

Irela

nd

5.2

08

12.2

71

10.9

78

13.5

74

4.0

14

8.8

43

9.9

44

United

Kin

gdom

1.9

15

12.9

10

11.5

93

13.0

97

4.7

22

11.0

63

11.7

19

Oth

er

EU

15

1.4

27

13.7

23

4.0

65

8.9

41

13.0

30

22.3

18

5.2

78

Pola

nd

2.4

67

20.3

42

20.3

58

15.4

18

14.6

74

8.7

37

2.2

80

Lithuan

ia4.0

91

18.6

75

20.1

35

16.0

23

11.7

58

6.8

56

1.9

32

Oth

er

EU

15-2

54.7

91

18.4

21

15.2

76

15.3

55

18.2

42

8.2

76

2.2

37

Oth

er

Euro

pean

3.4

19

14.4

18

15.6

90

11.4

62

13.7

93

11.8

81

3.7

79

Afr

ica

0.6

69

10.9

82

4.2

82

10.9

82

8.0

18

15.2

27

18.6

87

Asi

a0.6

66

6.9

65

2.0

05

9.2

51

23.9

99

8.9

52

30.3

80

Am

eri

ca(N

ort

han

dSo

uth

)2.2

84

13.2

38

8.4

07

9.4

06

6.7

57

13.8

48

10.3

80

Oth

er

Countr

ies

1.7

70

8.4

91

9.1

96

11.1

38

7.6

14

17.4

11

11.9

80

Not

e:Fi

gure

shig

hlig

hte

din

bold

indic

ate

the

hig

hest

em

plo

yment

conce

ntr

atio

ns

for

speci

fic‘P

lace

of

bir

th’.




health and social work are a direct link toone of the initial recruitment campaignsoutlined in the second row of Table 1. TheMinister for Enterprise, Trade andEmployment during the period of the cam-paign, Mary Harney, travelled to job fairsaround the world but much of the focus wason Asia with recruitment of many nurses

and doctors from the Philippines andPakistan.

Step 3. Two-step cluster analysis. The third andfinal step in the analysis of the impact ofstate policies on the existence of spatial seg-mentation in the Irish labour market is theapplication of a two-step cluster analysis.

Table 3. Selected ODDS ratios compared to Irish workers as calculated based on formula OR ¼ Ei=Et�i

Oi=Ot�i.

Sector ODDS Gender Aspect Observations

Agriculture, forestry

and fishing

The number of male migrants

in the agricultural sector is

small at 0.53

‘Lithuania’ females have an

ODDS ratio of 6.202

higher than Irish women

of being employed in

sector, and EU15–25 have

a 5.599 higher ODDS

Many EU15–25 and European

other (mainly Romanian

and Bulgarian) women

came to Ireland through

agricultural recruitment

drives (Hollifield, 2004),

particularly in mushroom

and fruit picking activities

Hotel and restaurant ‘Other European’: 5.335

‘Asian’: 7.551

‘Asian’ males 14.345 higher

ODDS compared to Irish

males

Media discourse in Ireland

puts Polish and Lithuanians

as highly concentrated

which is evident here, but

an added interest is the

number of Asian ‘place of

birth’ and particularly

males (Wills et al., 2010)

Construction ‘Polish’: 2.073

‘Lithuanian’: 2.044

ODDs figure is for males as

the number of females in

the industry is very small

Although higher than the Irish

ODDS this is not as high

as might be expected as

the construction sector

was also a main source of

employment for Irish

workers (McDowell,

2008)

Real Estate, Renting

and Business

activities

‘EU-15’: 2.962

‘Other’: 2.173

Approximately the same

ODDs ratio for both men

and women across

nationalities

Many small ‘ethnic’ businesses

have appeared in areas of

Dublin in recent years.

These include grocery

shops, takeaway restaur-

ants and beauty salons11

(Birdthistle, 2012, Cooney

and Flynn, 2008)

Health and Social

work

‘Africa’: 2.081

‘Asia’: 3.9521

‘Africa’ males 4.858 higher

ODDS compared to Irish

males, with only 1.656 for

‘Africa’ females compared

to Irish females

These higher ODDS link back

to the recruitment cam-

paigns (Hollifield, 2004) in

the health sector. The

gender aspect may be

linked to recruitment of

Asian doctors

McPhee 587



Cluster analysis is the exercise of grouping aset of objects in such a way that objects inthe same group or cluster are more similar(in this paper by ‘place of birth’) to eachother than to those in other clusters. Thepurpose of applying cluster analysis is todetermine how people are clustered orgrouped based on variables selected to rep-resent ‘place of birth’ and nature of employ-ment. Although no pre-determinedrelationships are assumed, as is the basisof cluster analysis, variables are selectedbased on the literature to determine thenature of work, and existence of segmenta-tion in the labour market (Bauder, 2001;Castree et al., 2004; Jessop et al., 2008;Peck, 1996; Sousa-Poza, 2004).

The two-step cluster analysis is carriedout using the 2006-quarter two QNHS, asrequired variables selected to conduct theanalysis were not all available from thecensus. In addition, the QNHS is used bythe International Labour Organisation asthe Labour Force Survey source, andhence offers specific data at the householdlevel on employment. Variables includedgender, place of birth, educational attain-ment, industrial sector of employment andoccupation. The aim is to determine if clus-ters fit data already seen in steps 1 and 2 ofthe census analysis. A cross tabulation fol-lowing the SPSS analysis is carried out inorder to establish how individual caseswithin the QNHS fit into the clusters.

The test forms three clusters from theQNHS dataset representing a total of73.2% of cases and the three clusters areof roughly equal size. Table 4 illustratesthe composition of the three clusters.Occupation categories are defined by theofficial Irish census, and categories areused for the construction of the Socio-Economic Group defined groups. By link-ing this analysis back to the percentageconcentration data and the ODDs ratiodata, some general inferences can bedrawn as to the characteristics of the

clusters. Distribution across clusters andmain characteristics are highlighted by thenames given to them in the second row ofTable 4. The different clusters also show aclear division between ‘place of birth’ andits relation to the industry and occupation aworker is likely to be employed in.

Spatial dimension of industrialclustering

The spatial analysis was initially carried outat the national scale and further analysed atthe city level in Dublin.

State-level clustering

When considering the importance of regio-nal and local levels in understandinginequality and existence of segmentedlabour markets, the initial step involved inspatial analysis is an understanding of theindustrial distribution of non-Irish bornworkers across the state.12 Data from theCSO indicates a concentration of non-Ireland ‘place of birth’ workers in urbanareas, specifically Dublin, Cork, Limerickand Galway. The figure in some urban cen-tres indicates at least 1 in 4 or 1 in 5 of theresidents as having been born outside ofIreland (CSO, 2011). In each of the fourmajor cities, non-Ireland ‘place of birth’workers are engaged in similar industriesincluding construction, health and hospital-ity. There is also, however, a concentrationof non-Irish workers in a number of ruralareas including the South-West counties ofCork and Kerry. Research would suggest(MacEinrı and White, 2008) that here thehigh concentration of non-Irish workers isin the hospitality sector, specifically hotelsand restaurants catering to tourists.

Greater Dublin Area

Evidence at the state-level indicates theurban context as most significant in Irish




immigration processes resulting from statepolices. According to the 2006 census, 68%of migrants in Ireland reside and work inDublin, a figure linking to evidence of thegrowth of importance of Dublin in the Irisheconomy as a whole (Gilmartin and Mills,2008). The local context is important forunderstanding the processes of globalisa-tion, and Dublin as a so-called ‘gatewaycity’13 provides the opportunity to seethese processes unfold. Migration processesor the flow of workers take place at theintersection of global economic trends andlocal or regional labour market develop-ments, creating a global consistency inhow local or regional markets operate

and demand workers (Massey, 2005; Peck,1996; Sassen, 1998). The application ofmethods of uncovering industrial clusteringin Dublin indicates that non-Ireland-bornworkers are clustered in specific industrialsectors. This provides initial evidence ofthe possibility that spatial segmentationcan and does occur at the most local level,and within the same physical space.Census data from 2006 indicate that non-Irish born workers are concentred(aside from UK nationals) in cities.Although Cork, Galway, Limerick andWaterford share a proportion of the cityresidents, Dublin is the largest receiver ofimmigrants.

Table 4. Composition of the three clusters 2006.

Cluster 1

(38.5% of 73.2%)

Cluster 2

(34.9% of 73.2%)

Cluster 3

(26.6% of 73.2%)

Cluster name Manual cluster Service cluster Professionals

Gender Gender is important with

a larger number of

males

Gender is important with

a larger number of

females

Number of females slightly

higher but roughly

equal from both

genders

Place of Birth Accession state feature

highest of all other

non-Ireland ‘place of

birth’

‘Other’ a little higher as a

‘place of birth’, but all

roughly equal

EU-15, Other and

American feature high-

est amongst non-

Ireland ‘place of birth’

Education Lowest educational

achievement cluster

mostly no formal/pri-

mary, lower secondary,

upper secondary and

leaving certificate

Centered around the

middle with mainly

upper secondary and

leaving certificate as

well as non-degree

third level

Most third level numbers

as well as highest third

level non-degree

Industry Almost entirely agricul-

ture and mining sec-

tors. Also highest

percentage of manufac-

turing, electricity, con-

struction, transport

and communication

Highest number of retail

and hotels/restaurants,

public administration,

health and ‘other’

Highest number of finan-

cial, real estate, educa-

tion and health

Occupation Highest number of man-

agers, craft and related,

plant and machine

operatives and ‘other’

Clerical and secretarial,

personal and protect-

ive, and sales

Professional and associate

professional and

technical

McPhee 589



Electoral divisions of significance

The Greater Dublin Area (GDA) is madeup of 322 Electoral Divisions (EDs), thesmallest available statistical data from theCSO. These 322 EDs are divided into fourareas which make up the GDA: DublinCity – 162 EDs; Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown – 69 EDs; Fingal – 42 EDs;South Dublin – 49 EDs. Figures 1 and 2illustrate the distribution of Irish and non-Irish by ‘place of work’. The maps indicatethat there is a concentration of workers in

particular EDs and areas. Proportions ofworkers are calculated based on the per-centage distribution of workers in thelabour market whose ‘place of birth’ isIreland versus those whose ‘place ofbirth’ is elsewhere. The results illustrate aconcentration of all workers, both Irishborn and non-Irish born, in specific EDsbased on where most employment inDublin is located; however, the maps indi-cate that non-Irish born workers are morehighly concentrated in certain geographicalareas over others.

Figure 1. Concentration of Ireland-born place of work by electoral district within the city of Dublin.




Applying a location quotient

In attempting to illustrate the existence of‘place of work’ clustering as an alternativeapproach to place of residence Ellis et al.(2004, 2007), the specifics of areas high-lighted through the GIS mapping abovemust be further examined. The tool selectedfor this analysis is a location quotientapplied where Ai is equal to the numberof non-Irish born workers in the selectedED and Bi is equal to the number of Irishborn workers in the selected ED. A result-ing LQ> 1 indicates a relative concentra-tion of non-Irish workers in ED compared

to the entire GDA area. A result of LQ¼ 1indicates that the ED has an equal concen-tration of non-Irish compared to Irish. AnLQ< 1 indicates that the ED has a lowerconcentration of non-Irish born comparedto Irish born or in fact a ‘de-concentration’.

LQi ¼ Ai=�Aið Þ= Bi=�Bið Þ

The location quotient illustrates the EDsand indeed larger areas (a number of EDsclustered/grouped) where the concentrationof non-Irish workers is higher than that ofIrish workers in the same EDs or areas. Thelocation quotient enables a breakdown of

Figure 2. Concentration of non-Ireland ‘place of birth’ place of work by electoral district within the

city of Dublin.

McPhee 591



these areas by ‘place of birth’ as these datawere obtained from the CSO, although notby specific industry. Many of these EDs arelocations where a large amount of businessparks were established as a result of the eco-nomic boom. Table 5 draws attention to anumber of EDs in the GDA that are statis-tically significant with regard to the appli-cation of location quotient and mainbusiness activities in these areas are dis-cussed in the fourth column. The resultsfor the entire GDA for concentration ofnon-Irish by ED are mapped in Figure 3.

Conclusion: Linking statepolicies to broader processesof ‘integration’

The aim of the paper was to assist in fillingan empirical gap on the role of the state andspatial segmentation of migrant workers inIreland. As international migrations areembedded in larger geopolitical and trans-national economic dynamics, analysis onthe formation of national politics by thestate and the impact of these on the individ-ual workers must be understood. The state

Figure 3. Density of LQ of non-Irish by place of work.




Table 5. Selected EDs with high LQ results.14

Electoral Division Location within GDA LQ

Main business activity (possible explanation

for high LQ for non-Irish workers linked to

percentage distribution and ODDs ratio

data analysis)

Ashtown B Dublin City 1.26 � First business parks in Dublin built in

the 1980s

� Close to the main motorway M50 cir-

cling the city

� Businesses involved in food prepar-

ation and distribution

North Dock A/B Dublin City (West) 1.76 � Dublin’s financial district

� Several multinational companies

including Google, Facebook and inter-

national hedge fund companies

� EU-15 and accession ‘place of birth’

workers in linguistic capacity as trans-

lators or customer service agents

(Barrett and Duffy, 2008)

Whitehall D Dublin City (North) 2.4 � Large computer and machine assembly

factories staffed by Ireland ‘place of

birth workers

� Smaller business parks with rentable

office space for mobile businesses –

includes cleaning, and security compa-

nies with large number of non-Ireland

‘place of birth’ (McPhee, 2012)

Pembroke West A Dublin City 1.92 � Dublin’s two main retail areas

� Non-Ireland ‘place of birth’ workers

linked back to percentage concentra-

tion of Poland, Lithuania and Other

EU15-25 (Table 2).

Usher B Dublin City 1.6

Tallaght-Avonbeg South Dublin (West) 10.34 � Highest LQ is second largest physical

ED in Dublin, after The Ward below.

� Rapid growth in new business parks

� Location on the edge of Dublin city

close to the main motorway (M50).

� Similar profile to Ashtown B above, but

constructed post-1995

Blanchardstown-Corduff South Dublin (West) 2.13 � One of city’s largest hospitals

� Concentration of non-Ireland ‘place of

birth’ healthcare workers

(continued)

McPhee 593



is the power in linking the global and thelocal in terms of where migrants come fromand what employment they engage in.Policies of the Irish state were analysed toevaluate how they facilitate and benefitfrom the existence of global supplies oflabour, and the impact of these policies onthe spatial segmentation of workers.

The empirical three-step analysis oper-ationalises the premise that immigrationpolicies have led to the clustering of certain‘place of birth’ workers in particular indus-tries. The results of the three-step analysissuggest that recruitment drives facilitated

by state policy have meant that certain‘place of birth’ workers are employed inparticular sectors. A cluster analysis pointsto a trend at the upper end of the socio-economic class with concentrations ofAmericans and EU-15 in the professionalcluster, suggesting that the global trendson worker nationalities in specific sectorsis also in existence in Ireland. The analysisoffers an initial overview of the clustering ofworkers in the local context but at the sametime does not lose sight of the importance ofvarious actors/facilitators involved in deter-mining how these processes are linked.

Table 5. Continued.

Electoral Division Location within GDA LQ

Main business activity (possible explanation

for high LQ for non-Irish workers linked to

percentage distribution and ODDs ratio

data analysis)

Kilsallaghan Fingal 3.01 � Two EDs located adjacent to Dublin

International airport and services

required for the airport

� The number of non-Ireland ‘place of

birth’ workers employed in services for

the airport include catering, cleaning

(McPhee, 2012) and retail in the airport

Swords-Seatown Fingal 2.05

The Ward Fingal 2.69 � Dublin’s largest ED in Dublin

� Newest area for business location and

the building of residential housing

estates

� Many new business parks with busi-

nesses in food preparation and com-

puter assembly

� Business parks serve as the business

address for many business-servicing

companies who provide cleaning,

catering and security services to

multinationals located in Dublin

(McPhee, 2012)

Dundrum-Sweetmount Dun L-Rathdown 2.06 � Largest shopping centre in the South

part of Dublin

� Location of business parks that house

several national and international call

centres (Barrett and Duffy, 2008).




In sum, the approach taken by the Irishstate to immigration policies appears toplay a role in shaping the structure of thelabour market.

In making an empirical claim that spatialsegmentation by ‘place of birth’ exists in theIrish labour market, the paper attempts todraw attention away from broad claims ofthe integration of migrants into Irish soci-ety. In providing an analysis of the role ofstate, the empirical findings are not conclu-sive of a challenging labour market experi-ence for migrant workers, but ratherindicate its complexity, with the role of thestate just one side of the triad. However,without first understanding the processesby which workers are employed where,moving beyond to any social implicationsis futile. Particular ‘place of birth’ workers’positions in Irish society more generally willnot improve, because they are spatiallytrapped in a specific sector or job. Until fun-damental processes of diversification of thelabour market through improved and trans-parent immigration policies are addressed,issues around the integration of non-Ireland born workers will continue todeteriorate. In terms of other academicresearch on labour market structure, spatialsegmentation and immigration, a similarassessment of the implications for policycan be made, namely, that any empiricalwork must take a step by step approach tounderstanding migrants’ experience and thisstep by step must be contextualised withinthe scale of the local labour market.

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any

funding agency in the public, commercial, or

not-for-profit sectors.

Notes

1. http://www.djei.ie/press/2000/130500.htm

2. The table is constructed through figures and

data from the Central Statistics Office(CSO), Economic and Social ResearchInstitute (ESRI), the Department of Jobs,

Enterprise and Innovation website (http://www.djei.ie/index.htm) and the MigrantRights Centre of Ireland (MRCI).

3. First Report of the Expert Group on Future

Skills Needs 1998 http://www.forfas.ie/media/egfsn981201b_first_report_egfsn.pdf

4. Ibid.

5. http://www.djei.ie/labour/workpermits/6. Ibid.7. Ibid.

8. http://www.enterprise-ireland.com/en/Export-Assistance/International-Office-Network-Services-and-Contacts/Enterprise-Ireland-Guide-to-Recruiting-in-Poland-.pdf

9. http://www.djei.ie/labour/workpermits/10. OR ¼ Ei=Et�i

Oi=Ot�i.

11. http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/pubdocs/

2011/218/en/1/EF11218EN.pdf12. Due to confidentiality issues the data for

Place of Work from the CSO is only avail-

able at the county level. However, this is atthe urban and rural level, and separates thefive Irish cities.

13. http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/projects.html14. Information for this table was complied by

the author using business directories andobservation in addition to the concentration

of workers based on the census and QNHSdata.

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Ireland’s immigration policies (1997–present): Links to global trends of labour division and effects on national labour market structure

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