14th Annual NERI Labour Market Conference: Place-based economic Inactivity

The 14th Annual NERI Labour Market Conference, in association with the South East Technological University (SETU) Waterford, provided a forum for the presentation of research papers on labour market issues (North and South of Ireland & international).

Niall O’Donnellan (Senior Research Associate) and Aidan Campbell (Research Programme Development Manager) presented a paper on “Place-based Economic Inactivity in the broad NW border regions of Northern Ireland & the Republic of Ireland”.

Their project sets out to address the following research questions:

• Q1. How has economic inactivity in border regions on the Island of Ireland been studied, and what existing data and insights are available regarding the relationship between geographic location and economic inactivity?
• Q2. What is the scale and profile of economic inactivity in the border counties of Ireland/Northern Ireland.
• Q3. What role does place play in economic activity, and how can we identify the multi-level factors – such as community support, accessibility, transportation, generational impacts, and the availability and affordability of childcare – that contribute to higher levels of economic inactivity in certain border regions, despite similarities in demographic profile, remoteness from larger towns, and educational attainment?
• Q4. What engagement with economically inactive is currently being undertaken by service providers (statutory, community/ voluntary, private sector) and employers in our target communities in the border region?
• Q5. Can we identify the specific challenges faced by border regions in relation to Economic inactivity among individuals seeking training or employment opportunities, and recruitment difficulties for employers? Is there a specific Border Regions challenge with Economic Inactivity?

The project used

• A literature review of relevant literature in both Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland.
• Data review and analysis of economic inactivity at jurisdiction/regional/local authority levels, and related variables of the types of health conditions and business sectoral profile primarily using data from the NISRA and CSO Censuses of Population (NI 2021 and 2011, and RoI 2022 and 2011) There was also data review at small/local area level.
• Interviews: Contextual Interviews with stakeholders and experts to develop a deeper understanding of the issues facing various groups of people who are not in, and currently have no access to suitable, paid employment or self-employment.
• Qualitative Interviews with “Activation actors” (those working to support people re-enter employment, training or
  education) and Employers (a combination of large and small and of private and public).
• Participants workshop on interim report findings for sense checking and feedback.

Read more on the NERI website at https://www.nerinstitute.net/events/2026/presentations-videos-14th-annual-neri-labour-market-conference