How Competitive Is Irish Manufacturing?

Valerie Cerra and Jarkko Soikkeli

No 2002/160, IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: Ireland has had significant competitiveness gains in the 1990s on the basis of the standard manufacturing unit labor cost-based measure of the real effective exchange rate. A handful of sectors mostly dominated by multinational companies have accounted for the bulk of value added in production. Their productivity gains have greatly contributed to Ireland's exceptional growth performance in the 1990s, which has earned it the nickname of "Celtic Tiger." However, these sectors represent a disproportionately smaller share of manufacturing employment, and competitiveness in employment-intensive sectors has been much weaker. This paper thus explores Irish competitiveness from the viewpoint of risks to employment.

Keywords: WP; industry; exchange rate; gain; Irish ULCs; pharmaceutical industry; Ireland; competitiveness; unit labor costs; real exchange rate; employment; computing machinery industry; NACE industry 24; communication equipment industry; clocks instruments industry; apparatus industry; Manufacturing; Real effective exchange rates; Competition; Labor costs; Global competitiveness; Global (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 12
Date: 2002-09-01
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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