The ‘social wage’ for workers in Ireland is exceptionally low by EU standards according to latest research by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), which was published to mark May Day last weekend.

The Social Wage: Public services and income supports in Ireland and the EU also finds that Ireland is the second most expensive country in the European Union after Denmark, with prices 36% above the EU average.

The report compares the value of the social wage – free or cheap State-provided public services –for workers in Ireland and a selection of other rich EU countries. This includes welfare spending, unemployment benefits, housing and childcare.

ICTU social policy officer Laura Bambrick said Irish workers on modest wages have to pay market prices for essentials services that workers in other EU state get free on the basis of need, irrespective of the size of their pay packet.

“For example, a full-time worker in rural Ireland earning not much more than minimum wage is ineligible for social housing. Only one-in-seven over-18s in employment hold a medical card, and just one-in28 hold a GP visiting card, because the maximum earnings threshold to qualify for public-funded primary healthcare is so low,” she said.

Fórsa has led ICTU calls for a more generous social wage to reduce the inflation squeeze on wages. Free or heavily subsidised public services reduce people’s out-of-pocket expenses and bring down their cost of living. They act as a virtual income top-up to people’s cash income from work or welfare.

The union says the lack of low-cost public services added an immense strain on people’s expenses and cost of living, which affected minimum wage earners and those in vulnerable occupations the most.

A stark finding from the report also found that in the vital area of housing, which include utilities bills, costs in Ireland were higher than anywhere else in the union, at nearly 78% more expensive than the average.

The report concluded that there was “wide public support” for putting a strong safety net in place to protect people’s standard of living against common risks. This can only be done through timely and meaningful consideration on the role for government with respect to expanding access to affordable housing, child and adult care, free healthcare and education, and heavily subsidised and sufficient public transport, it says.

Read the full report HERE.