Survey: Irish workers among the most mobile in EU

IRISH workers are among the most mobile in the EU with a third in their current job for less than two years and about the same number planning to change jobs again.

Pensions are also in a state of flux, with employers shifting responsibility and risks for pensions to workers at a faster rate in Ireland than most other EU countries, according to a related survey.

The figures reflect the huge growth in the Irish workforce over the past few years, which have been taken up mainly by young people and immigrants.

The rapid turnover of staff in Ireland is also similar to Denmark, where flexicurity has been pioneered with easy to hire and fire laws underpinned by the state providing a security net for workers.

Less than 33% of Irish workers have been employed in the same job for more than 10 years, the third lowest percentage in the EU, where the average for the 27 states is 40%.

A commission spokesperson said there were a wide variety of reasons for the differences between countries, such as that some, like Ireland, had rapid employment growth in recent years or flexible employment laws.

The survey was carried out for the European Commission’s employment department to illustrate that occupational pensions need to be more portable.

A corresponding survey showed that an increasing number of Irish workers are being offered pensions where they take all the risks and the employer takes none.

Known as defined contribution schemes, they are becoming increasingly popular in Ireland, but may not offer as big a pension ultimately as the more traditional defined benefit schemes.

The survey shows an increasing number of companies are changing over to the cheaper defined contribution schemes and the amount of money they contribute to their employees’ pensions is dropping.

On the one hand, defined contribution schemes — where only the monthly contributions are set down — are easier for workers to take with them if they move to a job in another EU country.

However, they have no way of knowing exactly how much they will have as a pension, while those in a defined benefit scheme know in advance.

“There is a clear tendency to shift to defined contribution schemes and a tendency for employers to contribute less and less to their employees’ pensions,” said a commission expert.

Employers in some cases contribute as much as 20% but in the past 10 years the trend here is for this to drop considerably, to as little as 2% in a growing number of cases, he said.

Currently more than 40% of schemes are defined benefits but more than half have been closed to new entrants since 2005. A fifth of new defined contribution schemes were opened in the past two years, according to the study by Hewitt Associates.