Discrimination in the Labour Market: Nationality, Ethnicity and the Recession

Previous research shows that immigrants, in common with other groups that suffer disadvantage in the labour market, are more vulnerable during recession. However, little research has focused on the impact of the Great Recession on work-related discrimination. We examine the extent to which discrimination varies across different national-ethnic groups in Ireland, and whether discrimination increased between 2004, during an economic boom, and 2010, in the midst of a severe recession. Our analysis draws on two large-scale nationally representative surveys on the experience of labour market discrimination. We find that overall non-Irish nationals do experience higher rates of work-based discrimination and that there is substantial variation in discrimination across national-ethnic groups. However we find no evidence to suggest that self-reported discrimination increased during the recession.