James Williams

Economic and Social Research Institute | ESRI

This study uses Growing Up in Ireland data from Cohort '98 and Cohort '08 to examine whether county-level variances in selected child outcomes are significant in scale and explore the extent to which any such variation is related to the composition of the county (in terms of its population and otherwise) across a range of characteristics.

Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) is a two-cohort, longitudinal study of children and young people. The study aims to describe the health and development of Irish children across a range of topics; these include physical and mental health, family socio-demographic status, education, and the child’s behaviour, attitudes and key relationships. The study ha...

This report outlines the experiences of 5 year olds in the Growing Up in Ireland study in the key domains of health, socio-emotional development and school/cognitive development.

This report provides a descriptive analysis of the findings from detailed interviews with 13-year-olds and their parents in the Growing Up in Ireland study. Developmental outcomes in three broad areas of the 13-year-old’s life are considered: • Physical health and development • Education and cognitive development • Social, emotional and behavioural...

Children frequently refrain from disclosing being bullied. Early identification of bullying by healthcare professionals in children may prevent adverse health consequences. The aim of our study was to determine whether Health Care Utilisation (HCU) is higher in 9-year-olds who report being bullied and factors influencing type of HCU. The study cons...

This paper seeks to distil the lessons on poverty measurement from a period that extends back to the early days of poverty research at the ESRI in the mid to late 1980s. What was the problem to which non-monetary indicators was the solution? How were the indicators chosen and justified? What have we learned about the role and limitations of non-mon...

In this paper we draw on the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) data to examine the impact of pre-recession socio-economic characteristics on the economic stress levels of households with children. Our results provide some support for the polarisation argument, with the largest increases in absolute percentage point terms occurring towards the bottom of t...

Background Being victimised by bullying is strongly associated with having an underlying chronic condition. The aim of this study was to determine whether primary and/or secondary healthcare utilisation (HCU) is increased in children who are bullied independent of having an underlying chronic illness or disability. Methods Cross-sectional survey o...

In this paper we make use of the first and second waves of the 2008 and 1998 cohorts of the Growing Up in Ireland study, to develop a multidimensional and dynamic approach to understanding the impact on families and children in Ireland of the Great Recession. Economic vulnerability is operationalised as involving a distinctive risk profile in relat...

In this paper we make use of the 9-year-old wave of the Growing Up in Ireland study to analyse multidimensional deprivation in Ireland. The Alkire and Foster adjusted headcount ratio approach (AHR; Alkire and Foster, Journal of Public Economics, 95, 476–487, 2011a, Journal of Economic Inequality, 9, 289–314, 2011b) applied here constitutes a signif...

Aim: To explore the association between weight and bullying; considering victims and perpetrators as two aspects of bullying, and subjective perception and objective measurement as two aspects of weight. Methods: This study is based on the first wave of data collection from Growing Up in Ireland - the National Longitudinal Study of Children. The...

In April 2000 the Irish government introduced a national minimum wage of IR£4.40 (&U20AC;5.58) an hour. We use data from a specifically designed survey of firms to estimate the employment effects of this change. Employment growth among firms with low-wage workers prior to the legislation was no different from that of firms not affected by the legis...

This study reports the results of a survey conducted in Summer 2005 to assess the prevalence and degree of discrimination reported by recent migrants. The survey measures perceived discrimination in a range of different situations - in the workplace, in public places, in shops/restaurants, in commercial transactions and in contact with institutions...

This paper identifies market forces which induce employers to provide training in Ireland. It investigates if they are present in sufficient strength in the consumer service sectors with a high concentration of low-skill jobs to provide a basis to upgrade such jobs. Data from a survey of firms on training incidence, duration, and cost are used in O...

The international financial crisis manifests itself in Ireland not only as a crisis of the banking system, but also as a major fiscal crisis, aggravated by years of soft revenue policy and a housing bubble that has burst spectacularly. The severe drop in economic output results in a crisis of employment and a definitive end to the ‘Celtic Tiger’ er...

This study is the latest in a series monitoring the evolution of poverty, based on data gathered by The ESRI in the Living in Ireland Surveys since 1994. These have allowed progress towards achieving the targets set out in the National Anti Poverty Strategy since 1997 to be assessed. The present study provides an updated picture using results from...

The ESRI's study updates our picture of poverty in Ireland using results from the Living in Ireland Survey carried out in 2001. The publication is the latest in a series monitoring living standards and assessing progress towards achieving the targets of the National Anti-Poverty Strategy. It describes trends in the extent of poverty, profiles those...

The National Minimum Wage was introduced in Ireland in April 2000. This study is based on a survey carried out in late 2000/early 2001, commissioned by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, which re-interviewed firms which had been surveyed before the introduction of the minimum wage. The results are used to assess the impact of the m...

This paper reports the results of the first nationally representative survey of the incidence of workplace bullying in the Republic of Ireland. The results are based on analysis of a sample of over 5,200 individuals in paid work outside the home. Overall, 7% of persons in the work-place report that they experienced bullying in the 6 months precedin...

This national survey covers topics such as respondent's health status, insurance or medical card coverage and usage of the health services. It records considerable criticism of the public healthcare system, but those whose comments were most unfavourable were those with least experience of the system. Concerns centred most on waiting times, length...

Monitoring the evolution of poverty and assessing progress towards achieving the stated targets is of central importance to the National Anti Poverty Strategy (NAPS). Last year, the ESRI carried out a study for the NAPS Inter-Departmental Policy Committee (Callan et al. 1999) based on results from the 1997 round of the Living in Ireland household s...

Contents: 1. Introduction 2. Employment, Unemployment and Further Education 2.1 Economic Status of School Leavers 2.2 Economic Status and Level of Educational Attainment 3. Educational Attainment, Training and Labour Market Success 3.1 Educational Attainment and Early School Leaving 3.2 Level of Attainment and Unemployment 3.3 Level of Attainment a...

The paper on Monitoring Poverty Trends is the latest report in the annual series commissioned by the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs. It attempts to assess progress in reaching the national targets in relation to poverty reduction. This year's report focused in particular on the processes leading individuals and households to ent...

Sex and sexual behaviour are an extremely important aspect of human behaviour, with implications for both individuals and societies. Sexual relationships can give immense pleasure and fulfilment to individuals, create families and ultimately underpin the viability of societies, but they can also have less positive consequences. For example, rates o...

CONTENTS: Summary 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 National Surveys of Vacancies 1990-1997 1.2 Background and Objectives of the 1998 Survey of Private Sector Vacancies 2. METHODOLOGY 2.1 The Questionnaire 2.2 Sample Design and Response Rates 2.3 Re-weighting the Data 2.4 Survey Implementation 3. EMPLOYMENT LEVELS AND TRENDS 3.1 Current Employment and Recent Cha...

This survey covered all private, non-agricultural employment and shows that the labour force was growing strongly while unemployment remains very low. About one-third of firms reported a vacancy and the vacancy rate had risen by about a sixth since the previous survey. The study gave a detailed breakdown of vacancies by occupation and sector and sh...

The Economic and Social Research Institute was commissioned by the Department of the Environment and Local Government to carry out the Irish National Survey of Housing Quality (NSHQ) in 2001-2002. The survey obtained detailed information from a representative sample of over 40,000 householders on characteristics and problems of the dwelling, and on...