Private pay up most over five years
by Bernard Harbor
 
The average increase over the five years was 14.4%, which compares to 4% in public administration and defence, 8.2% in education and 14.2% in health.
The average increase over the five years was 14.4%, which compares to 4% in public administration and defence, 8.2% in education and 14.2% in health.

Increases in average weekly earnings in the public service continued to lag behind the private sector in the first quarter of 2020, although the impact of Covid-19 on private sector pay barely registered in the three months between January and end-March.

 

New figures published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) this week showed that earnings grew by 4% in the private sector between January and March, comparted to 3.3% in the public sector.

 

Public sector figures include semi-state organisations in this CSO survey.

 

The CSO also released stats on changes in weekly earnings in the five years between 2015 and 2020. These showed increases in all sectors, but they were lower than average in the sectors where civil and public servants are concentrated.

 

The average increase over the five years was 14.4%, which compares to 4% in public administration and defence, 8.2% in education and 14.2% in health.

 

The figures don’t capture the public service pay cuts that occurred between 2010 and 2013 or the pension levy, which was imposed in 2009.

 

The largest increases in earnings in the 2015-2020 period were in administration and support (almost 28%), information and communications (over 20%), accommodation and food (over 19%), and finance and real estate (18%).

 

The CSO cautioned that the coronavirus crisis had limited the ability of some employers to submit the usual data for the survey.

 

It also noted that Government measures put in place in response to Covid-19 were only in place for two weeks of the three months under review. There is little doubt that the impact of the pandemic on Irish earnings will be evident when figures on the second quarter (April-June) of 2020 are published.

 

 

 

 

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