Nearly two-thirds of retail workers are earning less than €451 per week, new research from the Mandate trade union shows.
The report, which is called 'Smoke and Mirrors', finds that the biggest challenge to improving incomes is the number of hours worked in the sector.
Mandate said that legislative change is needed to allow employees to increase their working hours where extra hours are available so that they can get a decent weekly income.
Mandate General Secretary Gerry Light said that the 2018 Employment Act helped retail workers by introducing "banded-hours" contracts which provide a minimum floor of hours and by getting rid of zero-hour contracts.
"'Smoke and Mirrors' shows that further change is needed to enable workers to avail of extra working hours where those hours are available," Mr Light said.
"Our experience on the ground shows that where extra hours are available, many companies are actively choosing to by-pass offering those hours to existing staff who are looking for them, instead choosing to go with 'new starts' in order to keep their wage bills down," he added.
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Dr Conor McCabe, researcher with the Queen's University Management School, Belfast, prepared the report for Mandate.
He said that while hourly rates have been improving, this has not been fully reflected in weekly earnings because of the relatively low number of hours being worked by retail workers.
"The Mandate survey shows that 75% of the respondents were on a banded-hours contract and, of this cohort, over 50% were on a contract of 31 hours or more a week," Dr McCabe said.
"A significant number of these workers, 40%, would like to work more than their banded hours."
"While some do get that opportunity, many do not due to a mix of management intransigence and care responsibilities."
'Cost-of-living' wage
Mandate is also calling for the national minimum wage to be replaced by a "cost-of-living wage" and says that the sub-minimum rates that apply to young workers need to be abolished.
Last year, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment requested the Low Pay Commission to examine issues around retaining or removing sub-minimum rates and its report is expected later this year.
In November, the Government agreed to the introduction of a new national "living wage" to replace the minimum wage by 2026.
It will be phased in over a four-year period starting this year and will be set at 60% of the hourly median wage.
In 2023, it is estimated that 60% of median earnings would equate to approximately €13.10 per hour.
The minimum wage was increased on 1 January by 80c to €11.30 per hour.
This will be followed by gradual increases until the minimum wage reaches 60% of hourly median earnings.
The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment said it would give the report due consideration in the context of existing legislative protections.
Meanwhile, in its response, Retail Excellence Ireland said that the sector has seen a drop-off in experienced staff since the pandemic, adding that many businesses are struggling with unprecedented energy bills, high inflation and additional labour costs.
