Religious Differentials in the Labour Market: The Impact of the Good Friday Agreement 25 years on

Abstract

This dissertation investigates religious differentials in the labour market, focusing on Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. The conflict between these two communities led to the violent period known as 'The Troubles', which had significant economic implications. The Good Friday Agreement (1998) put an end to this conflict. This study investigates whether there is still a religious gap in the labour market 25 years after the GFA. To achieve this, the UK Labour Force Survey is used, where the primary empirical strategy is a difference-in-differences regression to evaluate the impact of GFA exposure to education by cohort on unemployment, income, and managerial status. The results indicate an unemployment and managerial status improvement for both religious groups. However, Catholics continue to face income inequality, which is likely due to occupational differences.