What really stood out to us was the impact of age on earnings. Ireland has a higher number of younger people in employment than any other nationality working here. We know younger workers tend to have lower earnings and work fewer hours than older age groups, a higher proportion of younger workers has a greater impact on overall median earnings for different nationalities.
For example, in 2023, 16% of Irish nationals in employment were aged 15-24 with median weekly earnings of €335, compared with 10% of non-Irish nationals, earning €430.
One interesting thing was just how much the economic sector you work in can impact on earnings. While both Indian and Brazilian nationals working in Ireland have a similar age profile, their median earnings differed by as much as €300 a week, mainly due to the type of sector they typically work in.
We can see that Indian nationals typically worked in Health or Communications, where median weekly earnings are higher, while many Brazilian nationals worked in Retail or Food Services, where median weekly earnings tended to be lower.
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