Background to the Research

• Economic disparity in Northern Ireland is usually viewed in terms of its sectarian divide. A study conducted by the University of Ulster, shows that there are significant income differentials between Catholic and Protestant communities, but much more inequality within them.
  

Main Findings

• If Catholic families of a particular economic status received the same income as their Protestant counterparts, overall inequality would fall by less than 2 per cent. Consequently, the problem of economic inequality in Northern Ireland is primarily one of disparity between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots' within the communities.
• A secondary problem is, however, that of Catholic-Protestant inequality. Significant income differences exist between Catholic families who had an average income of £122 a week and Protestants whose average income was £136 a week.
• Income for Catholic families was spread more thinly since they were, on average, larger. The per-adult income of unemployed Protestants was 24 per cent more than Catholics and 7 per cent more in the case of those in employment.
• Nearly a third of non-retired Catholic income came from social security benefits compared to a fifth for Protestants.
• About 18 per cent of the income gap between Catholics and Protestants was due to unequal pay for equal job qualities i.e. to labour market discrimination. In the main, however, the difference between average Catholic and Protestant incomes was because the two communities had significantly different socio-economic characteristics.
• Discrimination could also take the form of denying jobs to Catholics. How much the higher unemployment rate of Catholics was due to such discrimination is unknown, but the study shows that if the policy goal was simply to improve the relative incomes of Catholics, then specifically targeting policies on the reducing the unemployment disadvantage of Catholics (even if the overall unemployment rate for Northern Ireland remained unchanged) would be more effective than relying on a general reduction in the unemployment rate.