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Average weekly earnings were €923.48 in Q1 2023, an increase of 4.3% from €885.33 in Q1 2022.
Average hourly earnings rose by 4.1% to €28.55 from €27.42 in Q1 2022.
Average weekly paid hours were 32.4 in Q1 2023, up by 0.3% from the Q1 2022 value of 32.3.
The job vacancy rate at the end of Q1 2023 was 1.4%, down from 1.6% at the end of Q1 2022 and slightly up from 1.3% at the end of Q4 2022.
Average hourly other labour costs grew by 27.2% to €4.58 from €3.60 in Q1 2022.
The highest averages for hourly total labour costs were €54.10 in Information & Communication and €51.63 in Financial, Insurance & Real Estate Activities.
The lowest averages for hourly total labour costs were €17.65 in Accommodation & Food Service Activities and €25.37 in Arts, Entertainment, Recreation & Other Services.
The Public Administration & Defence sector had the highest job vacancy rate at 3.0% in Q1 2023, followed by 2.8% in the Professional, Scientific & Technical Activities sector.
Headline Table: Earnings, Hours and Labour Costs, unadjusted and seasonally adjusted | |||||||
Average Weekly Earnings | Average Hourly Earnings | Average Hourly Total Labour Costs | Average Weekly Paid Hours | ||||
€ | € | € | Hours | ||||
Unadjusted | |||||||
Q1 2022 | 885.33 | 27.42 | 31.02 | 32.3 | |||
Q1 2023 | 923.48 | 28.55 | 33.13 | 32.4 | |||
Annual % change | 4.3 | 4.1 | 6.8 | 0.3 | |||
Seasonally Adjusted | |||||||
Q4 2022 | 900.71 | 27.79 | 32.31 | 32.3 | |||
Q1 2023 | 907.48 | 27.82 | 32.26 | 32.8 | |||
Quarterly % change | 0.8 | 0.1 | -0.2 | 1.5 |
Editor's Note: While there is no internationally agreed methodology for assessing the public/private sector wage gap, the CSO has published analysis of the differential using a matched Labour Force Survey and P35 dataset for 2015-2018. This analysis took account of compositional differences between the public and private sector, such as occupational mix, sectors of activity, gender balance, union membership, etc. The public sector pay gap in 2018 was estimated to range from -3.8% to +0.1% depending on the specification applied and the treatment of the Pension Levy.
See most recent analysis for 2015-2018 here. See also previous versions for 2009-2010 here (PDF 678KB) and for 2011-2014 here (PDF 686KB)
Average weekly earnings were €923.48 in Q1 2023, an increase of 4.3% compared with €885.33 from one year earlier, according to preliminary estimates of the Earnings and Labour Costs quarterly release.
The largest annual percentage increase in Q1 2023 in average weekly earnings was 10.1% in the Information & Communication sector, with a rise from €1,510.01 to €1,661.83. The second largest increase was 8.8% in the Public Administration & Defence sector which rose from €989.24 to €1,076.56 over the year.
In the five years to Q1 2023, average weekly earnings rose by 24.0%. All sectors saw increases to average weekly earnings over this period.
Average hourly earnings grew on an annual basis by 4.1% to €28.55 in Q1 2023, while average weekly paid hours increased from 32.3 in Q1 2022 to 32.4 in Q1 2023. Over the three years from Q1 2020 to Q1 2023, average hourly earnings rose by 15.3% from €24.76 to €28.55, while average paid hours rose slightly to 32.4 hours in Q1 2023 from 32.3 in Q1 2020.
5 Year % Change | |
Information & communication | 39.0152497427704 |
Admin & support service | 29.751204429424 |
Accommodation & food | 27.1551593896359 |
Arts & entertainment | 24.9665551839465 |
All sectors | 23.9969923196734 |
Industry | 21.4018804907353 |
Health & social | 21.1043255565249 |
Professional & technical | 19.963812474945 |
Construction | 19.7866902190641 |
Wholesale & retail | 18.8507992895204 |
Education | 16.8748653887573 |
Financial & real estate | 16.0223940282591 |
Public admin & defence | 12.4180276513095 |
Transportation | 10.1708003402919 |
X-axis label | Unadjusted | Seasonally Adjusted |
---|---|---|
Q116 | 22.55 | 22.04 |
Q216 | 21.97 | 21.99 |
Q316 | 21.56 | 22.07 |
Q416 | 22.18 | 22.18 |
Q117 | 22.69 | 22.13 |
Q217 | 22.27 | 22.29 |
Q317 | 22.16 | 22.72 |
Q417 | 22.6 | 22.6 |
Q118 | 23.4 | 22.8 |
Q218 | 22.94 | 22.97 |
Q318 | 22.62 | 23.22 |
Q418 | 23.33 | 23.32 |
Q119 | 24.05 | 23.41 |
Q219 | 23.69 | 23.72 |
Q319 | 23.53 | 24.18 |
Q419 | 24.23 | 24.21 |
Q120 | 24.76 | 24.09 |
Q220 | 25.39 | 25.42 |
Q320 | 24.38 | 25.06 |
Q420 | 25.56 | 25.53 |
Q121 | 26.83 | 26.16 |
Q221 | 26.07 | 26.11 |
Q321 | 25.29 | 26 |
Q421 | 26.27 | 26.22 |
Q122 | 27.42 | 26.71 |
Q222 | 26.72 | 26.76 |
Q322 | 26.19 | 26.93 |
Q422 | 27.85 | 27.79 |
Q123 | 28.55 | 27.82 |
Q1 2022 | Q1 2023 | |
Industry | 27.45 | 29.09 |
Construction | 23.68 | 24.65 |
Wholesale & retail | 21.7 | 22.57 |
Transportation | 23.2 | 23.37 |
Accommodation & food | 15.17 | 15.97 |
Information & communication | 40.92 | 44.18 |
Financial & real estate | 40.04 | 41.62 |
Professional & technical | 31.68 | 31.96 |
Admin & support service | 23.53 | 22.96 |
Public admin & defence | 28.54 | 30.11 |
Education | 38.99 | 39.74 |
Health & social | 24.85 | 26.89 |
Arts & entertainment | 21.76 | 21.76 |
All sectors | 27.42 | 28.55 |
X-axis label | Unadjusted | Seasonally Adjusted |
---|---|---|
Q116 | 31.7 | 32.1 |
Q216 | 32.1 | 32 |
Q316 | 32.6 | 32.4 |
Q416 | 32.4 | 32.3 |
Q117 | 32 | 32.4 |
Q217 | 32.4 | 32.4 |
Q317 | 32.4 | 32.2 |
Q417 | 32.4 | 32.3 |
Q118 | 31.8 | 32.2 |
Q218 | 32.5 | 32.5 |
Q318 | 32.8 | 32.6 |
Q418 | 32.5 | 32.4 |
Q119 | 32.1 | 32.5 |
Q219 | 32.6 | 32.6 |
Q319 | 32.7 | 32.4 |
Q419 | 32.5 | 32.4 |
Q120 | 32.3 | 32.7 |
Q220 | 32.2 | 32.2 |
Q320 | 32.6 | 32.3 |
Q420 | 33.1 | 33 |
Q121 | 32.1 | 32.4 |
Q221 | 32.6 | 32.7 |
Q321 | 33.1 | 32.8 |
Q421 | 32.9 | 32.8 |
Q122 | 32.3 | 32.6 |
Q222 | 32.6 | 32.7 |
Q322 | 33.1 | 32.8 |
Q422 | 32.4 | 32.3 |
Q123 | 32.4 | 32.8 |
Average hourly total labour costs were €33.13 across all economic sectors in Q1 2023.
Information & Communication had the highest average for hourly total labour costs at €54.10, followed by €51.63 in the Financial, Insurance & Real Estate Activities sector. The sectors with the lowest cost of employing labour were Accommodation & Food Services Activities at €17.65 and Arts, Entertainment, Recreation & Other Service Activities at €25.37.
Average hourly total labour costs increased by 22.4% over the five years to Q1 2023, from €27.06 per hour to €33.13. The percentage changes across the sectors ranged from 9.1% in Transportation & Storage to 36.5% in Information & Communication.
5 Year % Change | |
Information & communication | 36.5471983846542 |
Arts & entertainment | 28.3257460799191 |
Admin & support services | 26.7497603068073 |
All sectors | 22.4316334072432 |
Construction | 21.4285714285714 |
Industry | 20.7443142660234 |
Wholesale & retail | 20.1657458563536 |
Accommodation & food | 18.9353099730458 |
Health & social | 18.5522151898734 |
Professional & technical | 18.0384736676127 |
Financial & real estate | 17.5814165338192 |
Public admin & defence | 16.955139526669 |
Education | 13.0955414012739 |
Transportation | 9.14560770156438 |
Average weekly earnings grew by 7.7% across the public sector in the year to Q1 2023, rising from €1,024.76 to €1,103.31. An Garda Síochána had the highest average weekly earnings in Q1 2023 in the public sector at €1,495.95. The highest average hourly earnings in this period were €45.44 in the Education sector.
Q1 2022 | Q1 2023 | |
Civil service | 904.93 | 1052.42 |
Defence | 926.77 | 920.69 |
Garda Siochana | 1387.93 | 1495.95 |
Education | 1047.13 | 1125.53 |
Regional bodies | 888.12 | 939.63 |
Health | 1018.31 | 1097.69 |
Semi-state | 1103.04 | 1155.26 |
All sectors | 1024.76 | 1103.31 |
Q1 2022 | Q1 2023 | |
Civil service | 43300 | 45400 |
Defence | 8800 | 9400 |
Garda Siochana | 14500 | 14300 |
Education | 111900 | 111900 |
Regional bodies | 35100 | 35700 |
Health | 153900 | 172900 |
Semi-state | 56600 | 60500 |
The job vacancy rate in Q1 2023, which measures job vacancies on the last working day of the quarter, was down at 1.4% from 1.6% in Q1 2022. It was slightly up from 1.3% recorded at the end of Q4 2022.
The highest job vacancy rates in Q1 2023 were 3.0% in Public Administration & Defence, followed by 2.8% in Professional, Scientific & Technical Activities.
There were 30,300 job vacancies, (rounded to the nearest 100), at the end of Q1 2023, down by 2,900 from the end of Q1 2022.
X-axis label | Job Vacancy Rate |
---|---|
Q116 | 1 |
Q216 | 0.9 |
Q316 | 1 |
Q416 | 0.9 |
Q117 | 1 |
Q217 | 1.1 |
Q317 | 1.1 |
Q417 | 1 |
Q118 | 1 |
Q218 | 1.2 |
Q318 | 1 |
Q418 | 0.9 |
Q119 | 1 |
Q219 | 1.1 |
Q319 | 0.9 |
Q419 | 0.9 |
Q120 | 0.8 |
Q220 | 0.7 |
Q320 | 0.8 |
Q420 | 0.9 |
Q121 | 1 |
Q221 | 1.2 |
Q321 | 1.5 |
Q421 | 1.4 |
Q122 | 1.6 |
Q222 | 1.6 |
Q322 | 1.6 |
Q422 | 1.3 |
Q123 | 1.4 |
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (31 May 2023) issued Earnings and Labour costs results with Preliminary estimates for Q1 2023 and Final estimates for Q4 2022.
Commenting on the data, Louise Egan, Statistician in the Earnings Analysis Division, said: “Preliminary estimates for January, February, and March (Q1) 2023 show average weekly earnings were €923.48, up 4.3% compared with €885.33 in Q1 2022.
Earnings and hours
The largest annual percentage increase in Q1 2023 in average weekly earnings was 10.1% in the Information & Communication sector.
Average hourly earnings grew on an annual basis by 4.1% to €28.55, while average weekly paid hours increased by 0.3% to 32.4 in the year from Q1 2022 to Q1 2023. Over the three years from Q1 2020, where the first quarter in that year was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, to Q1 2023, average hourly earnings rose by 15.3% from €24.76 to €28.55, while average paid hours rose slightly to 32.4 hours from 32.3 hours.
Labour costs
Average hourly other labour costs increased by 27.2% across all economic sectors to €4.58 in Q1 2023 from €3.60 in Q1 2022. A significant factor in this growth was the ending of the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) on 31 May 2022. EWSS payments to enterprises were recorded as subsidies and refunds received and were deducted from other labour costs during the period Q1 2020 to Q2 2022.
In the three years to Q1 2023, average hourly total labour costs increased by 15.8%. The percentage changes across the sectors in the period Q1 2020 to Q1 2023 ranged from 2.6% in Transportation & Storage to 26.8% in Information & Communication.
Job Vacancy Rate
The job vacancy rate in Q1 2023, which measures job vacancies on the last working day of the quarter, was 1.4%, up from 1.3% at the end of Q4 2022 and also up from 0.8% at the end of Q1 2020."