Researchers: Dr Aisling Tuite and the Waterford Un/Employment Research Collaborative Research Team.
Challenge:
Public Employment Services (PES) are vital public institutions that support social cohesion by assisting Irish and EU citizens, nearly half of whom will experience unemployment during their lives. Expenditure on these services accounts for 1.4% of EU GDP and 1.1% of Irish GDP, including €6.1 billion (EU) or 0.6% of Irish GDP spent on activation support. However, 81% of this spending is considered inefficient in delivering sustainable labour market outcomes for both unemployed individuals and the wider economy. In response to ongoing economic and demographic challenges that strain resources, governments and PES are increasingly adopting advanced technologies to reduce costs, improve service quality, and develop new responses. To date, most digital PES technologies have been designed with limited input or understanding of the lived experiences of unemployment.
Impact Summary:
The Waterford Un/Employment Research Collaborative (WUERC) has maintained a sustained focus on the lived experiences of unemployment, gathering qualitative evidence on access to social welfare supports. Findings, grounded in personal narratives and rigorous research, have been presented at Oireachtas committees and informed Dáil debates, contributing to the decision to end the JobPath scheme. This work underpinned the Horizon 2020 HECAT project, which co-designed an ethical labour market platform with users and the Slovenian Public Employment Service (ESS). The resulting MyLabourMarket (MLM) platform provides transparent, accessible labour market data to support informed career decisions and has been recognised as a best-case example of ethical algorithms, equitable access technology, and SSH–STEM collaboration. WUERC’s progression from local research to national policy influence, and on to European labour market innovation, demonstrates a clear pathway to impact, delivering measurable benefits for policy, practice, and the communities they serve.
Over 13 years, WUERC research has informed national policy change and shaped European labour market technology. In January 2019, WUERC presented evidence-based findings on the JobPath scheme (an employment activation program in Ireland designed to help long-term unemployed individuals find and maintain employment) to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Employment Affairs & Social Protection resulting in significant changes to the scheme’s new iteration. This attracted national media coverage, was cited in committee hearings, and directly informed a Dáil Private Members’ Motion to abolish JobPath (February 2019), which was carried. Research on digital public services led to IRC funding in 2016 to examine the Department of Social Welfare’s Probability of Exit algorithm, generating invited presentations to senior departmental audiences. This work laid the foundation for the EU Horizon2020 HECAT project, which co-designed the MyLabourMarket (MLM) platform with unemployed people, caseworkers, PES managers, and policymakers. MLM democratises labour market data, enabling jobseekers to make informed short- and long-term career decisions. Positive results from live-beta testing have led to its sustained use, internationally, in Slovenia’s Public Employment Service (ESS).
MLM has been highlighted in PES Network reports as a best-practice example of equitable AI, featured in EU CORDIS results pack and Horizon Magazine, and supported policy-focused outputs such as reports on algorithmic profiling and labour market visibility.
Ongoing work includes an SFI National Challenge grant for an Irish market career decision tool (PEStech) and active engagement with DFHERIS/Maynooth University’s Research-for-Policy initiative. The EC project officer rated HECAT’s results as “exceptional” with significant immediate and potential impact.
The Waterford Un/Employment Research Collaborative (WUERC) began in 2012 as a summer research programme combining data collection with student training in ethnographic methods. Its longitudinal dataset includes interviews (n=156), autoethnographic accounts of social welfare offices (n=86), focus groups (n=56), policy document analysis (n=193), media analysis, and case studies. This rich data resource has supported numerous student research careers and informed policy submissions and publications, establishing WUERC as a key voice on unemployment experiences.
A notable research strand on Public Employment Services (PES) digitalisation was developed through the IRC-funded project ‘Understanding Unemployment in the Era of Big Data’. This examined the Probability of Exit (PEX) algorithm and global PES technologies, informing the successful EU Horizon2020 HECAT project focused on disruptive technologies in public services.
HECAT united social scientists, technology experts, and Slovenia’s Employment Service (ESS) to co-design MyLabourMarket (MLM), a platform using open and administrative data to provide transparent labour market insights. MLM employs unique metrics such as volatility, stability, and liquidity to visualise labour market trends, setting a new standard for ethical, socially inclusive digital tools.
The platform was developed through an open innovation framework fostering iterative collaboration between social science and technology teams. User engagement was central, with digital walkthroughs, interviews, and pilot studies involving caseworkers and unemployed users in Slovenia, Ireland, Denmark, and France. Feedback guided platform refinement, ensuring MLM meets real-world needs for equity and accessibility.
By returning public labour market data to jobseekers and caseworkers, MLM enhances evidence-based decision-making and supports digital democracy in employment services. The platform’s code is openly available on GitHub, with project outputs and demonstrations hosted on Zenodo and YouTube, enabling ongoing impact on PES policy and practice as digitalisation advances across Europe.
Websites
You Tube
www.mylabourmarket.com Showcase
Research publications
- Demazière, D., Griffin, R., Paulsen Hansen, M., & Leschke, J. (eds.). (2025). Digital Public Employment Services in Action. Bristol: Policy Press.
- Griffin, R., Jordan, A. & Tuite, A. (2024) Considering the animating ethos of designing digital first unemployment services: On the motivation of others. Australian Journal of Social Issues
- Sociological Observer: Rethinking Welfare in the New Normal. Dublin: T. Boland & R. Griffin, eds. Sociological Association of Ireland, pp. 84-92.
- Roche, Z. & Griffin, R., 2022. Activation through marketisation as a process of ignorancing. Social Policy & Administration
- Boland, T., & Griffin, R. (2023). The future of work guaranteed: Assembling NEETs in the apparatus of the welfare state. Organization, 30(5), 873-891.
- Hayes, O. Public service algorithms; The need for standardisation now. Digitalpolicy.ie Standards in Public Service Algorithms Dr. Órla Hayes - UCD Centre for Digital Policy
- Boland, T., & Griffin, R. (2019). Welfare and the Moral Economy of Precarity. Social Policy & Administration, 53(1), 98–112.
Books
Demazière, D., Griffin, R., Leschke, J., and Hansen, M. (eds), 2025. Digital Public Employment Services in Action Digital Public Employment Services in Action | Bristol University Press
Policy Impact
WUERC Policy Impact:
- Joint Committee on Employment Affairs and Social Protection díospóireacht - Thursday, 17 Jan 2019.
- 2019-01-17_opening-statement-dr-ray-griffin-and-dr-tom-boland-waterford-institute-of-technology_en.pdf
- JobPath Programme: Motion [Private...: 5 Feb 2019: Dáil debates (KildareStreet.com)
- JobPath Programme – Tuesday, 19 Feb 2019 – Parliamentary Questions (32nd Dáil) – Houses of the Oireachtas.
- Committee told man on JobPath scheme had his CV amended against his wishes to conceal his ethnicity
- JobPath scheme a dead end for unemployed, claim experts – The Irish Times
- Over 7,000 on JobPath scheme had welfare pay cut in 2018 – The Irish Times
- Special half day Academic Conference marks Department’s 70th Anniversary
HECAT Policy Impact:
- Harnessing the opportunities of AI for Public Employment Services - European Commission
- Easing job jitters in the digital revolution | Horizon Magazine
- Fostering skills development in the EU for more sustainable, resilient, and fair societies | Results Pack | CORDIS | European Commission
- [HECAT] [ETAPAS] [TECHETHOS] Policy Launch: Public Service AI /// Trust – Values – Accuracy
- [HECAT] D7.2 Policy Briefing Report 2 "Labour Market Visibility: Data and the Job Search"
SETU:
Dr Ray Griffin, Dr Zeta Dooly, Antoinette Jordan, Dr Órla Hayes, Dr Zack Roche, Dr Patrick Gallagher, Dr PJ White, Dr Brian Casey, Emma Holden.
UCC:
Dr Tom Boland.
Sciences Po Paris:
Professor Didier Demaziere, Dr Alizée Delpierre, Dr Aurélie Gonnet.
Copenhagen Business School:
Professor Janine Leschke, Dr Clément Bréblon.
Roskilde University:
Dr Magnus Paulsen Hansen, Dr Sabina Pultz, Maggie Muller.
University of Ljubljana:
Professor Tjasa Redek.
Jozef Stefan Institute:
Dr Pavel Boskoski, Professor Biljana Mileva Boskoska.
Slovenian Public Employment Services.
Careersportal.ie
- HECAT (Horizon 2020)
Title: Disruptive Technologies Supporting Labour Market Decision Making
Awarding Body: European Commission – Horizon 2020 Programme
Grant Number: 870702
Total Award: €3.5 million (coordinated by SETU)
Duration: 2020–2024
- Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) – Discover Award
Project: PEStech – Making the Labour Market Visible (SFI National Challenge)
Awarding Body: Science Foundation Ireland
Award: €173,000
Duration: 2023–2024
- Irish Research Council – New Horizons Award
Project: Understanding Unemployment in the Era of Big Data
Awarding Body: Irish Research Council (IRC)
Award: €200,000
Duration: 2016–2018
Proposal Support Funding
- 2019 Coordinator Support Grant (Enterprise Ireland) €5,230
- 2018 Coordinator Support Grant (Enterprise Ireland) €6,420
