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Press Statement

Preasráiteas

09 June 2020

Earnings and Labour Costs Quarter 1 2020 Preliminary Estimates

COVID-19 impacts collection of Earnings and Labour Costs Estimates for Quarter 1 (Q1) 2020
  • Average weekly earnings were €801.83 in Q1 2020, an increase of 3.9% since Q1 2019
  • Average hourly earnings increased by 3.2% to €24.81 from €24.05 in Q1 2019
  • Average weekly paid hours increased 0.6% to 32.3 hours from 32.1 hours in Q1 2019
  • The job vacancy rate at the end of Q1 2020 was 0.7%, down from 1.0% at the end of Q1 2019
  • Government measures put in place in response to COVID-19 only related to weeks 11 – 13 of Q1 2020; the impact of the pandemic on earnings and labour costs results for Q1 2020 is minimal as a result

Go to release: Earnings and Labour Costs Q4 2019 (Final) Q1 2020 (Preliminary Estimates)

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (9 June 2020) issued Earnings and Labour Costs results in respect of Preliminary estimates for Quarter 1 (Q1) 2020 and Final estimates for Quarter 4 (Q4) 2019.

Louise Egan, Statistician, CSO, explains the background to the release and outlines the headline results being presented today:

 “The Earnings and Labour Costs quarterly release publishes statistics on average weekly and hourly earnings and labour costs. Average hours and average earnings are calculated by dividing the total hours and total earnings respectively for the entire quarter by the average employment across the entire quarter.

Government measures put in place in response to COVID-19 only related to weeks 11 – 13 of Q1 2020. The impact of the pandemic on earnings and labour costs results for Q1 2020 is minimal as a result, as most sectors were unaffected for 11 weeks of the quarter, with some sectors unaffected for the entirety of the quarter.

Preliminary estimates for Q1 2020 show average hourly earnings increased by 3.2% to €24.81 and average weekly paid hours increased 0.6% to 32.3 hours from the same period in 2019. Average weekly earnings were €801.83, an increase of 3.9% from Q1 2019. The job vacancy rate, which measures job vacancies as at the last working day of the quarter, is 0.7%, down from 1.0% at the end of Q1 2019.”

Louise Egan, Statistician, CSO, explains the approach taken to account for COVID-19 related business closures and survey response rates for the results presented today:

Despite the extension of the data collection period by two weeks, the response rate for the Preliminary estimates for Q1 2020 has been negatively impacted due to the inability of some businesses to access the data required to respond to the survey questionnaire, submit returns or respond to reminders and queries due to COVID-19. The sectors particularly impacted by low rates of survey response were Construction, Accommodation and Food Services and Transportation and Storage. Caution is therefore advised in relation to the Preliminary estimates published today. Please see the Technical Note on the Impact of COVID-19 on the Earnings and Labour Costs release for more information.

Referring to the ongoing difficulties being faced by enterprises due to COVID-19, Louise Egan continued:

“We understand the difficulties enterprises faced in both accessing and sending us the required data and we acknowledge the efforts made by our survey respondents during this time.  The CSO is hopeful that businesses who have been unable to submit their Q1 2020 return yet will be able to provide this data in the coming weeks for inclusion in our Q1 2020 Final Earnings and Labour Costs release, scheduled for publication in August 2020.”

For further information contact:

Louise Egan (+353) 21 453 5951

or email earnings@cso.ie

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