Foreign Direct Investment in Ireland 2018

Figure 5.1 shows the distributions of educational attainment for employees at FDI firms and those at Irish firms. MNEs have a higher proportion of employees with third level qualifications however the proportions of employees with post graduate and PhD qualifications are quite even for both MNEs and Irish firms.

Figure 5.2 shows a further breakdown of the distribution of educational attainment for employees working at FDI firms.

Figure 5.3 shows a further breakdown of the distribution of employees at Irish firms.

Sector Differences

Figure 5.4 shows educational attainment levels for employees at FDI and Irish retail firms. The distributions of both types of firm are similar, they both peak with upper secondary qualifications in their distributions. However, FDI firms appear to have greater proportions of employees at higher educational attainment levels. FDI firms have a significantly greater share of employees with third level and post graduate qualifications.

Figure 5.5 shows the distribution of educational attainment for employees in the information and communication sector for FDI firms and Irish firms. The distributions of both are very similar. However, FDI firms having a higher proportion of employees with post graduate qualifications and Irish Firms having a higher proportion of workers with post leaving cert qualifications. 

Figure 5.6 shows educational attainment for employees in the administrative and support sector for both FDI and Irish firms. The distributions of educational attainment for both FDI and Irish firms are very similar. Irish firms have more employees that are still undergoing some form of education while FDI firms have a higher proportion of workers that have a qualification that falls outside the scope of the categories on the Census form, as seen from the difference in the 'Other' column in Figure 5.6.

Figure 5.7 shows the educational attainment of employees in the scientific and technical activities sector for Irish and FDI firms. The distribution of educational attainment in this sector is similar. FDI firms have slightly higher proportions of workers with post graduate and PhD qualifications. Both firms have very high proportions of staff with high education attainment levels; over 50% of both FDI and Irish firms' workforces have at least a third level qualification.

Figure 5.8 shows the educational attainment distributions of the financial and insurance activities sector. FDI firms have greater proportions of employees with third level and post graduate qualifications.

Figure 5.9 shows distributions of educational attainment for the manufacturing sector. This sector has the biggest difference between Irish firms and FDI firms; FDI firms are significantly more educated than their Irish counterparts, they have significantly higher proportions of employees with third level, post graduate and PhD qualifications.

Wage Levels

Figure 5.10 illustrates education distributions for FDI and Irish firms for earners making below €30,000 per annum. Irish firms have a higher proportion of employees with post leaving cert qualifications. 

Figure 5.11 shows the distributions of educational attainment for employees earning between €30,000 and €50,000 at FDI and Irish firms. The distribution is similar, both peaking at third level qualifications. Irish firms have a higher proportion of employees with a lower secondary educational attainment as well as a higher proportion of employees with post leaving cert qualifications.

Figure 5.12 shows educational attainment for FDI and Irish firms for workers earning between €50,000-€100,000 per annum. The overall distribution is similar.

Figure 5.13 shows educational attainment for employees of FDI and Irish firms for those earning between €100,000-€200,000 per annum. There is little difference between both types of firms in terms of their overall distribution. Irish firms have a much greater proportion of employees with an upper secondary school level of educational attainment.

Figure 5.14 shows the levels of educational attainment for employees earning over €200,000 per annum. Here it is clear that MNEs attract workers with a higher level of educational attainment: they have significantly more post graduate and PhD qualified workers.

When looking at the educational attainment differences between Irish firms and FDI firms, in general, there does not appear to be a great deal of difference. However, accounting for the sector we can discern significant differences, for example, in the manufacturing sector (Figure 5.9) FDI firms employ greater proportions of staff with third level qualifications and above. Additionally, at higher wage levels FDI firms employ greater numbers of staff with post graduate qualifications as evidenced in Figure 5.14.