Unemployment, Vacancies, and "Full Employment" in the Irish Manufacturing Sector. Quarterly Economic Commentary, June 1977

Walsh, Brendan M. (1977) Unemployment, Vacancies, and "Full Employment" in the Irish Manufacturing Sector. Quarterly Economic Commentary, June 1977. [Working Paper]

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Abstract

The most frequently used indicator of Irish labour market conditions is the unemployment rate. The target of "full employment" has usually been defined by choosing the unemployment rate believed to correspond to an acceptable level of " involuntary " unemployment. This rate was set at 2 per cent in the NIEC 1967 report, and at 4 per cent in the NESC 1975 report. Neither of these studies contained an analysis of the implications of the target unemployment rate for the rate of wage inflation. On the basis of the evidence for the years 1953-71, Slattery (1976/77) suggested that an unemployment rate of 3 per cent is consistent with a 4.5 per cent rate of price inflation.

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