INTRODUCTION From a regional development perspective, sectors of the economy that can operate remotely open up an array of economic and environmental opportunities for every region in Ireland.
The ability of policy makers to utilise the potential benefits of remote working – and specifically co- working hubs – will be a key factor in ensuring the vision and objectives of each Assembly’s RSES can be implemented. Under our remit, and in advance of the proposed “National Economic Recovery Plan” the three Regional Assemblies of Ireland are fully committed to utilising the potential of remote working so all of our regions can experience an inclusive economic recovery. On this basis, and considering the need to quantify the potential benefits of remote working across all of our regions, the three Regional Assemblies of Ireland have prepared this “Regional Co-Working Analysis”. The purpose of the “Regional Co-Working Analysis” is to provide data that will assist in developing the potential of remote working in our regions. This will be achieved by using employment data from the CSO’s Q2 2020 Labour Force Survey and recent research from the European Commission. The “Regional Co-Working Analysis”: 1. Identifies the actual number of private sector workers that are capable of operating remotely on a national and regional basis 2 , as of Q2 2020 2. Estimates the number of private sector workers that are capable of operating remotely on a county basis, as of Q2 2020 3. Identifies the name, location and type of co-working hubs in each county in Ireland, as of September 2020 4. Provides a series of considerations that could assist policy makers in developing additional co-working hubs across Ireland In doing so, the three Regional Assemblies of Ireland will provide a greater level of data in the public domain that may be complemented by further datasets and future analysis.
Using data from the CSO’s Q2 2020 Labour Force Survey and research from the European Commission 3 , the Regional Assemblies of Ireland have identified the number of private sector workers that are capable of operating remotely on a national and regional basis as of Q2 2020. By collating this information with equivalent county data from Census 2016, the three Regional Assemblies of Ireland have also been able to estimate the number of private sector workers that are capable of operating remotely in each local authority area, as of Q2 2020. It should be noted that such research 4 also stated that the majority of workers involved in “Public Administration and Defence, and Compulsory Social Security” and “Education” were also capable of operating remotely, but these sectors were excluded as the primary focus of this analysis is with respect to the remote working capabilities of private sector workers. The focus on private sector workers was primarily for three reasons, namely:
1. Prior to the publication of the “Regional Co-Working Analysis”, there has been no
examination of the remote working capabilities of the private sector on a national or regional level, whereas the remote working capabilities of the public sector has been discussed through
the previous decentralisation process. 2. Remote working offers a significant
opportunity for the private sector to enhance its competitiveness, offer possible solutions to property constraints, lower operational costs, enhance staff wellbeing and employee retention, increase labour productivity while opening up a greater pool of applicants to available positions in the private sector.
NUTS 2 Regions of Ireland
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3 Remote working is referred to as “Teleworking” in the European Commission Research: https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/ JRC120578/jrc120578_report_covid_confinement_measures_final_updated_good.pdf 4 https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC120578/jrc120578_report_covid_confinement_measures_final_updated_good.pdf
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REGIONAL CO-WORKING ANALYSIS
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