The Irish as Young Europeans: "Hire them before they hire you"

IDA Ireland 1984: Engineering graduates of University College Dublin (UCD). "It's a fact that Ireland produces more computer science graduates per capita than the US; spends more (as a percentage of GDP) on education than Britain or Japan. So it's no surprise to find Irish managers among senior executives in top international companies. However, the best way to get your share of Irish talent is to locate in Ireland. You'll be in good company. Over 300 US manufacturing and service industry companies already have done so. Ireland, home of the Irish and the young Europeans. "

In 2020 Luxembourg and Ireland had the highest percentage of university graduates in the 25-34-year-old group. The EU27 was at 40.5%, Luxembourg 60.6%; Ireland 58.4%; Germany 35.1% and Austria 41.4%.

In the OECD's Education at a Glance 2020, Korea and Ireland are at 70% in 2019; followed by Canada 63%; Russia 62%; US is at 50% and Germany 33%.

While IDA Ireland, the Irish inward direct investment agency, bragged in 1984 that "Ireland produces more computer science graduates per capita than the US," this year the Irish Higher Education Authority (HEA) reported on its tracking of the progress of thousands of students who started third-level courses over a 10-year period (see image below).

The HEA reported that computing had the highest drop-out rate overall, with completion rates nationally at about 55%.

Danes' net financial wealth is highest in the EU but...

At the end of June 2021, Denmark's National Bank (central bank) reported that Danish households' net financial wealth was kr (krone) 6,453bn in December 2020. In the EU, the average Dane's financial net wealth is in first place, followed by the Netherlands, Sweden, Luxembourg and Belgium. Ireland has the 8th ranking.

However, average (mean) and median provide very different results — the median is the middle value with 50% of values above it, and 50% below. It's a useful metric when there is significant inequality.

Irish standard of living at 13th in EU27 and 19th among rich OECD countries

In 2020 Ireland's standard of living per capita was 13th in the EU27 ranking. Among the 31 advanced (defined by the International Monetary Fund: IMF¹) / rich countries of the 38 member Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Ireland had the 19th ranking for Household net adjusted disposable income per capita. The poor occupational pension coverage in the Irish private-sector workforce is also relevant to the standard of living.

According to the Central Statistics Office in 2020, 6 in 10 Irish workers have "some form of pension coverage" — the number of years coverage varies among private-sector workers as employers have no obligation to provide occupational pensions. The 2017 Public Service Pay Commission report noted that the Irish Pensions Authority indicated "that pension coverage in the public sector remains at 100%, with the equivalent coverage figure for the private sector at 40%."

State pensions accounted for almost a third of average wages in 2020 (€12,900 vs €40,300).

While the Irish public sector including politicians (18% of the workforce) has guaranteed pension payouts (defined benefit), up to 60% of Irish private pension funds are eaten up by charges and fees from finance firms.

In contrast to the shambolic Irish system, the OECD says that in Denmark occupational pension schemes are fully funded defined-contribution schemes agreed between the social partners through collective agreements. Some 85% of the employed workforce is covered by such schemes." Danish self-employed have separate schemes and total coverage encompasses "almost the entire population and comes close to absolute universality."

Danish households differ from households in most other countries in that they have very large pension wealth, according to the Danish National Bank. "This means that many Danes can look forward to relatively high income after retirement, which reduces their need to be debt-free when they retire."