Background to the Research

• Catholic and Protestant men in Northern Ireland have been shown to have very different unemployment rates. This unemployment differential persisted throughout the 1980's and the 1991 Census revealed unemployment rates amongst Catholic men to be about two and a quarter times higher than the rate for Protestant men. Consequently, this differential has provoked lively debate amongst academics and policy makers about the factors which account for it.
• According to some, it is possible to explain a large part of the unemployment differential in terms of 'structural' factors such as age, number of children, geography, social class and/or industry, which, it is argued, have little or nothing to do with differences in opportunities. According to others however, much of the unemployment differential can be explained by religion or factors highly correlated with religion and not by differences in the observed characteristics of the two groups. This research sought to address the question therefore, whether or not the unemployment differential could be largely explained by 'structural' factors.

Research Approach

• The Research used two large household survey datasets, namely The Labour Force (N=11,300) and Continuous Household Survey (N=6,600), to provide a comprehensive picture of the relationship between male unemployment and religion.
• A range of econometric models were also used to examine various aspects of unemployment as well as incidences of unemployment. The paper also investigated the following issues: Non-participation (economic inactivity) and its links with unemployment; discouragement amongst non-participants, duration of unemployment, job search behaviour, labour turnover flows between employment, unemployment and non-participation and claimant status of the unemployed

Main Findings

• Religion accounts for about half of the unemployment deferential in the two samples. Differences in the personal and other characteristics of Catholic and non-Catholic populations account for the rest of the unemployment differential. Catholic men are therefore significantly more likely to be unemployed than non-Catholic men.
• There is little evidence that subject mix in Northern Ireland or elsewhere has a large effect on the incidence of unemployment. Also, the limited evidence available does not suggest that Catholics are less motivated, less flexible or have a poorer attitude to work than non-Catholics.
• Analysis of the incidence of unemployment amongst 20-24 year old males suggests that some current disadvantage is present for Catholics and that the unemployment differential cannot be explained solely in terms of past disadvantage.
• Catholic men are significantly more likely to be economically inactive than non-Catholic men. Half of the difference in inactivity rates between Catholics and others is explained by religion; the remainder is explained by differences in other characteristics.
• Significantly more inactive Catholics are discouraged i.e. they are not actively looking for work because they believe that there are no, presumably suitable, jobs available. However, Catholic men do not appear to be more discouraged than non-Catholic men.
• No significant correlation between unemployment and non-participation is found.
• More inactive Catholics claim benefits, which can be largely accounted for by the higher rate of discouragement amongst this group.
• Catholic men are significantly more likely to long-term unemployed than other men. It is likely therefore that the exit rate of Catholic men from unemployment is significantly lower.
• It is further suggested that Catholic men search less for employment than non-Catholic men. Catholic men use fewer job search methods and slightly fewer 'employer contact' search methods. The most likely reason why Catholics use fewer search methods is because they believe their chances of getting a job are less.
• No significant difference in labour turnover between Catholic and other men is found. Higher unemployment rates are therefore not attributable to higher Catholic turnover rates.
• Catholic men of all age groups are significantly less likely to be employed and more likely to be unemployed.