Ireland is Nearly Europe’s Brain Business Jobs Leader

Fully 11.2 per cent of the adults in Ireland are employed in brain business jobs, a term for highly knowledge-intensive jobs in tech, information and communications technology, advanced services, and creative professions. Ireland now outpaces Sweden (10.3 per cent) and is just narrowly behind Switzerland (11.24 per cent) in knowledge density.

Ireland ranks second in all of Europe in terms of knowledge intensity, and if the development continues, it could soon even outpace Switzerland as number one. The larger European countries are now significantly behind Ireland when it comes to the share of adults in knowledge-intensive jobs. In comparison, in Germany, 8.3 per cent of adults are employed in brain business jobs, while the rates in France (6.4 per cent), Italy (5.5 per cent) and Spain (5.4 per cent) are even lower.

There is a strong link between expert density and the share of adults that are employed in highly knowledge-intensive jobs. Ireland and Switzerland have the same expert density, since 11.9 per cent of adults are engineers and scientists in both countries.

This is the third-highest rate in Europe, next to Sweden (13.4 per cent) and Norway (12.5 per cent). Despite not having quite as high an expert density as Sweden and Norway, Ireland still has more people employed in brain business jobs. Brain business jobs tend to grow in countries with high expert density and lower tax burdens; the favourable tax and business policy of Ireland and Switzerland can explain why these two countries are on top.

On a national level, it is still Western European and Nordic countries that have a lead. Central European countries have lower expert density and are still behind at the national level. However, the capital regions of Central Europe have enough experts to compete, and combine this with lower costs and lower tax burden.

In the Dublin region, fully 17.8 per cent of the adults are employed in brain business jobs. This is the 10th-highest rate in Europe. In comparison, in Bratislava, Prague, Budapest and Bucharest, some 22 to nearly 25 per cent of adults are employed in highly knowledge-intensive jobs.

“Ireland is one of the most expert dense countries in Europe, and might soon even surpass Switzerland as having the highest share of adults in brain business jobs, illustrating the benefits of a competitive business climate”, says Nima Sanandaji, CEO of ECEPR.

The share of adults employed in brain business jobs in Ireland has grown from 10.6 per cent last year. Ireland has experienced a strong growth of knowledge-intensive jobs. Trade with the USA is important for knowledge-intensive jobs in Irish companies. Future development of trade relations with the USA is therefore important for the future growth of brain business jobs.

Klas Tikkanen, COO of Nordic Capital Advisors, emphasised the importance of combining high-quality education with favourable tax and regulatory environments, stating, “Having many engineers and scientists in the population is closely linked to the share of advanced jobs. We also continue to see a trend in Europe where countries with the fastest growth in brain business jobs tend to have lower tax levels relative to GDP. Nations need to combine talent supply with competitive tax burdens in order to grow with knowledge-intensive jobs.”

Fostering high-value-creating jobs remains important for the regional labour markets of Europe. Each percentage point higher share of the population of European regions employed in brain business jobs is linked to 0.24 percentage points lower regional unemployment. This means that in a region where 10 percentage points more of the population is employed in brain business jobs, the average unemployment is 2.4 per cent lower, compared to the typical European region.

Ireland has particular relative strengths in pharmaceuticals, where 26,700 are employed. The country also has a relatively strong media sector, with 11 800 employees.

The geography of Europe’s brain business jobs index has been published since 2017, with data stretching back to 2014. It is followed by many European governments, regional governments, Chambers of commerce, Universities and researchers. This index is produced by the European Centre for Entrepreneurship and Policy Reform (ECEPR), with support from Nordic Capital.

For more information and the full report, visit www.ecepr.org.  Research-related questions can be directed to nima@sanandaji.se.