Meeting 4: 27th November 2020

Location:        Online

Date:               27^th November 2020

Time:              3pm

Agenda

1. Introduction
2. Discussion and presentation of the Productivity in Ireland 2018 publication
3. RMF Update (Research Microdata File update)
4. Update of the work programme at Eurostat
5. AOB

Minutes

Attendees: Iulia Siedschlag (ESRI), Eamonn Sweeney (Department of Finance), Jim Barry (Enterprise Ireland), Niamh Roddy (IDA), Oliver Gilvarry (NCC, DBEI), Paul Goldrick-Kelly (NERI Institute), Terry Quinn (Central Bank), Manus O’Donnell (DBEI), Michael Connolly (CSO), Yvonne Hayden (CSO), Anthony Macken (CSO), Ita Shannon (CSO).

Apologies: Brendan O’Connor (Department of Finance), David Purdue (NTMA), Eddie Casey (IFAC), Tom McDonnell (NERI Institute)

• Michael Connolly welcomed all and acknowledged the length of time which had passed since the previous meeting. Covid-19 and the new remote working environment played a part in such a delay.  Michael made a presentation on the future direction of travel/work programme and also noted the new macro-economic divisions and the change of some personnel in the CSO.

• Yvonne gave a presentation on the 3^rd iteration of the publication “Productivity in Ireland 2018” released last July. The additional analysis and chapters on the labour share of GVA, the new KLEMS (Capital, Labour, Energy, Materials and Services) breakouts, and QALI (Quality Adjusted Labour Input) chapters were discussed. CSO welcomed any feedback.

• The Central Bank noted the seemingly cyclical nature of Total Factor Productivity and advised about the importance of examining the trends in TFP. The ESRI asked about splitting the KLEMS and QALI into Foreign and Domestic and Other sectors and queried the spill-over effect from the Foreign-owned firms to the Domestic sector. The CSO indicated that the future work is very much focused on micro analysis which is hoped will answer many questions on the drivers of growth in the underlying Domestic and Other sector.

• The Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation (DBEI) indicated from Monday, 30th November 2020, the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) will be known as the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council (NCPC). The Department indicated their preference for both higher frequency data and firm level analysis. The CSO are currently focussed on producing firm level indicators.

• The Department of Finance queried if CSO were going to look at public sector productivity. The recent impact of public sector productivity on the UK National Accounts was discussed. This area of productivity measurement is not currently a priority and it involves addressing the conceptual issues that inevitably arise with non – market activities.  There are developments in the National Accounts that may help in this task that are currently in progress and the matter can be reviewed in the future. Priorities are currently being set by Eurostat in the work of the Task Force and also CSO work on micro analysis.

• Anthony Macken from the Researcher Coordination Unit spoke about the challenges that faced the CSO and researchers of its data during the Covid-19 restricted circumstances. The CSO’s Management Board have recently allowed permission for on-site research to be carried out remotely.  They are currently waiting to set up 2FA (Two Factor Authentication) which requires users to use at least two pieces of verification information (e.g. a password and PIN) to log in. 

• Yvonne gave an update of the work programme at Eurostat highlighting the aim of the task force to have harmonised indicators produced across the member states. The focus at Eurostat is on ensuring that member states follow a consistent methodology to ensure harmonisation of statistics. The deadline for completion of this work is December 2021 with the aim to produce a publication of indicators compiled by this date.

• A follow up question after the meeting related to the availability of data on the use of Artificial Intelligence. In response CSO indicated that the next ICT survey in March 2021 by our colleagues in Business Statistics in Cork will include a question on this.

• It is expected that the group will convene early next year.