EURES Cross Border Partnership Report 2021: Labour Market Movement & Skills Gap on Island the Ireland

The purpose of this paper, which is the third of its kind, is to provide up-to-date, robust information on cross border activity in the Ireland – Northern Ireland region and build upon the 2019 EURES Ireland/Northern Ireland Cross-Border Partnership report “Cross Border Labour Market Movement and Skills Gaps on the Island of Ireland”, and the 2020 report “Labour Market Movement and Skills Gaps on the Island of Ireland”.

EURES (EURopean Employment Services) is the European network of employment services in 31 countries and has around 1,000 advisers from public and private employment services. In line with best practice, information has been gained from the reputable sources that provide such information, primarily the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in the Republic of Ireland, the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) in Northern Ireland, with additional data coming from EUROSTAT and the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

From the information provided by CSO and NISRA we have produced a report we hope will support jobseekers, workers and employers in the region as well as providing a focus for the EURES Cross Border Partnership regarding the direction of travel for our partnership and where we can use our resources most effectively in the coming years.

In a wider context and as part of the EURES Cross Border Network, the information we are providing will be useful in a comparative context to other border regions across the European Union and further afield. This will assist Cross Border Partnerships to analyse the mobility flows and hopefully provide some solutions to the issues faced by jobseekers, workers and employers in the border regions.

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