Today April 20th the Irish SME Association (ISME) has launched a report to examine how state policies are affecting the decision-making of low skills workers with regard to work. ISME’s ‘Job Kill Zone’ report examines how the interaction of policies on tax and other deductions for workers in the income range from €18k to €30k per annum have made working unattractive for many in this income zone.

The report finds that workers with lower market skills, such as early school leavers, could be expected to react to this Jobs Kill Zone by either dropping out of the labour market or adjusting their work practices to minimise taxation. ISME has long argued both in its pre-budget submissions as well as its submissions on the national minimum wage, that driving up the statutory minimum wage is simply not a solution to the problem of low wages in the economy.

View the full report below or click here.