James Williams

James Williams was a Research Professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute and is Principal Investigator and Co-director of the National Longitudinal Study of Children in Ireland (NLSCI). He holds B.A. from UCD as well as an M.A. He obtained a Dip. Applied.Stats from TCD in 1986 and an M.Econ.Sc in Economics and Econometrics from UCD in 1987. He previously held the position of Senior Economist at Bord Failte Eireann, the Irish National Tourist Organisation as well as in University College, Dublin. He holds graduate degrees in Geography and Economics. His areas of interest include survey methodology; poverty and income distribution; Geographic Information Systems; and regional development. As Head of the Institute’s Survey Unit he was responsible for all aspects of survey-based data collection including survey design; sample design and selection; implementation; data preparation and weighting; analysis and reporting. Over the period 1993 to 1996 he managed the Irish component of the European Community’s Household Panel Survey (ECHP). In the area of poverty and income distribution, he has, most recently, co-authored several books on the extent and correlates of poverty in Ireland (1996); on poverty dynamics in Ireland (1994; 1995) and on the spatial distribution of poverty and disadvantage (1998). In the area of labour market policies he has co-authored a major work on the potential of work-sharing in Ireland (1996). He has also contributed chapters to various books on topics including poverty and income distribution; childcare arrangements; and survey methodology. He has also been involved in a very wide range of commissioned reports and consultancy projects - both national and international - spanning a diverse range of topics. Recent reports have been on several aspects of labour market policy including skills shortages in industry and school leaver’s early labour market experiences; on the impact and employers’ perceptions of the effects of competition legislation; on public awareness of the EU structural funds and the socio-economic and employment structure of the Docklands Development area in Dublin. He also carries out both ad-hoc and on-going surveys for a range of organisations and bodies - mostly Irish Public sector; European Commission; and Eurostat.