persistence rates of jobs created in both the high-tech sectors (93.8% and
97.5%) are relatively higher than the job persistence rates in the lower tech
sectors (54.7% and 63.2%).24 This pattern can be observed whether we
discuss the one, two or three year persistence rates.
(Table 11)
When we consider R&D spenders in Table 12, the average
persistence rate of jobs created is higher in the majority (although not the
case for one year rate) for both the large and small R&D spenders relative
to the non-R&D spenders. The persistence rate for the non-R&D spending
plants falls off sharply by the second year and by the fourth year (43.7%)
is under half that of the equivalent rate for jobs created by large R&D
spending plants (99.0%).
(Table 12)
VII SUMMARY and CONCLUSIONS
In this paper we have examined whether the R&D activities of
MNCs in Ireland have any bearing on their contribution to Ireland’s
economic development. Allowing for plant and sectoral characteristics, we
compared the survival experiences and the employment performance of
R&D-active MNCs, relative to non-R&D active MNCs. We found that
plant survival was positively related to size, the level of sophistication of
the sector of activity, and the plant’s being R&D-active. A cohort analysis
of employment at plant level indicated that job losses were greater and job
persistence lower in the low-tech sectors and among non-R&D spenders
compared with R&D spenders.
24 Care should be taken in interpreting the overall four year persistence rate for all plants as an
average of the above four sectors. In this case the majority weighting determined by the number of
jobs created and the stock of employment in each category is predominantly on the higher-tech
sectors.
25