The latest CSO report on earnings shows that weekly earnings in the private sector increased by 1.0% in the year to the second quarter of 2013 compared with an increase of 1.3% in the public sector. The public sector figure includes earnings in the semi-state sector.

However, the CSO report cautions that the figures do not necessarily show that pay has increased. It points out that the lack of public sector recruitment has brought up the ‘average’ pay figure (total pay divided by number of staff) without pay actually increasing because there are relatively fewer staff in recruitment grades and at the bottom of pay scales; “Recruitment, particularly at lower levels, to these sectors would generally result in a depression to average earnings. The absence of recruitment (in the public sector) has the opposite effect” it said.

This fact was, somewhat surprisingly, acknowledged in the Irish Independent’s coverage of the CSO figures.

The report said that in the period 2009 to 2013 public sector earnings have fallen by -1.8%, and this compares with an increase of +0.8% in private sector average weekly earnings in the same period. The estimated number of persons employed in the public sector (again, the CSO figure includes the semi-state sector) showed a decrease of 1.4% over the year to the second quarter of 2013.

In its report, the CSO advises that all earnings are gross amounts before deductions for PRSI, tax and other levies, “This is particularly relevant to the public sector since March 2009 when the pension levy was introduced.”

More significantly, the figures do not yet reflect the effects of the recent Haddington Road agreement, which will have an effect on pay figures and hourly rates in future CSO publications.

The full CSO earnings report is available HERE.