Workers enjoying a major income boost
New figures show wages rising faster than inflation
WORKERS are enjoying a major boost to their incomes, as wages are soaring faster than inflation, new figures show.
Over the past year, pay has risen by an average of more than €26 a week – an increase of 3.5%. Meanwhile, prices have remained almost unchanged, as inflation is up by just 0.5%.
This means, once inflation is taken into account, workers earned an extra €22.31 a week, on average, the latest CSO figures released yesterday show.
However, the average public sector worker is paid €271 more than private sector workers. The average private sector worker earns €709.98 per week, but in the public sector, this figure now stands at €980.98.
Gerard Brady, chief economist of employers’ group Ibec said: ‘Recent wage figures show that the average full-time worker is now earning 9% more than they Enterprise: Ms Humphreys did in 2008. Strong wage growth and low inflation has meant that Irish workers are now receiving their largest, inflation adjusted, pay increases since the late 1990s.
‘These trends look to be continuing with this most recent data, with average hourly earnings in the first half of 2019 up 3.4% on 2018.’ He added that this is a real signal that the pace of economic growth over recent years is benefiting workers.
‘Feedback from Ibec members suggests that labour shortages are now widespread across many sectors of the economy.
‘Continued strong growth in employment will only increase these pressures in the short-term. Increasing the number of employment permits available will help alleviate some of the shortages faced by these sectors.’
Neil McDonnell, of small businesses group ISME, said: ‘High value-added or high productivity industries can keep pace with this but, typically, the services businesses cannot, and especially anyone that has exposure to sterling currency – they’ve taken an 8% hit already this year.
‘There will be winners and losers in this and one size does not fit all in the economy.’ The biggest wage winners are workers in IT jobs, where staff are picking up an average of €1,212.57 a week, followed by staff in finance, insurance and property sales, who earn €1,140.09 a week.
The worst paid jobs are in hotels and catering, where staff are earning just €365.59 a week followed, by workers in the arts and entertainment, where the average weekly wage is €518.13, the CSO figures show.
The wage rises were welcomed by Minister Heather Humphreys’ Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, where a spokesman said: ‘The preliminary results have indicated that our economy is continuing to grow strongly.
‘The results also show that average hourly earnings have increased in all 13 sectors over the same time period and that the job vacancy rate has reduced. This is evidence of the continued strong momentum in economic growth in our country,’ said the spokesman.
‘One size does not fit all in economy’