An Economy-Wide Perspective on Earnings Data in Ireland by Barra Casey

March 29, 2004

News

29/03/2004

 

An Economy-Wide Perspective on Earnings Data in Ireland by Barra Casey

Embargo 00:01 29/3/2004



Article appearing in the Quarterly Economic Commentary, Spring 2004.



This article constructs a new earnings indicator for full-time employees in the wider Irish economy, using CSO sectoral earnings surveys, for the period Quarter 1 1998 to Quarter 3 2003.



The new earnings indicator shows that:

 

 

  • Hourly earnings growth averaged 43 per cent across the whole economy over five and a half years.
  • Earnings grew fastest for employees in Construction (57 per cent) and Distribution (55 per cent) while earnings growth for employees in Transport & Communications (29 per cent) were the slowest recorded.
  • Earnings grew fastest in the sectors where educational attainment tends to be lower and grew more slowly in the sectors where educational attainment tends to be higher.
  • Sectoral earnings levels within the public sector (excluding health) were registering the largest earnings premium over the State average, while the Hotel & Restaurant sector was registering the lowest earnings across the economy.
  • Earnings grew proportionally faster among the private sector in comparison to the public sector (excluding health) for full-time employees. This divergence amounted to approximately 1.5 per cent on an annual average basis. This has led to a reduction in the public sector’s earnings premium over the State average.