Introduction

The purpose of this Historical Earnings publication is to compile available average earnings data from 1938 to 2015 and present them in as coherent a series as possible. Caution is advised when interpreting this data as surveys over the 77 year period were carried out utilising different methodologies, definitions, sectoral classifications and occupational classifications, therefore many breaks occur in the series presented.

Details of each of the data sources are presented below to inform users of the survey methodology and classifications used in each part of the series in the publication. Data previously unpublished on StatBank have been sourced from hard copies of the Irish Trade Journal and Statistical Bulletin (1938 to 1972) or CSO hard copy publications (1973 to 1999). A big thank you is due to Rose White (CSO Library), Margaret O'Mahony and Majella Lysaght all of whom contributed to this project.

Data 1938 - 1972

Industrial Sectors

Survey Name	Quarterly Industrial Production Inquiry (QIPI)	Census of Industrial Production (CIP)
Source	Statistical Bulletin & Irish Trade Journal	Statistical Bulletin & Irish Trade Journal
Time Period	Q1 1950 - Q4 1972	1938-1972
Period	Quarterly	Annual
Sector	Industrial sectors	Industrial sectors
Size	≥ 10 employees from 1953	≥ 10 employees from 1953
Occupation	Industrial workers	Industrial workers
Gender	Both	Both, Male, Female
Age	All	Under  18 and Over 18
Reference Period	March, June, September, December	Week in October

Methodological Note

Commencing with the third quarter 1969, additional details on earnings and hours worked by industrial workers were collected at the Quarterly Industrial Production Inquiry for the purpose of producing a new series on average rates for adult workers. Establishments were asked to furnish particulars for men and women on adult rates of pay or if the particulars were not available on this basis, to give figures for those for those 18 years and over. The average rates of earnings and hours worked for men and women in a week in March and December 1970 and March 1971 was derived from the returns. It should be noted that because of the changes in classification under which the basic data have been collected for this, the figures are not comparable with the averages for earlier years for male and female industrial workers derived for the Annual Censuses of Industrial Production (CIP). In these Censuses of Industrial Production the average earnings and hours worked related to industrial workers aged 18 years and over while, as indicated above, this series related to industrial workers on adult rates of pay.

Data 1973 – 1999 

Industrial Earnings

Survey Name	Industrial Earnings and Hours Worked	Annual Derived from Quarterly Data
Source	Industrial Earnings and Hours Worked	Industrial Earnings and Hours Worked
Time Period	Q3 1973 - Q2 1999	1973-1999
Period	Quarterly	Annual
Sector	Nace 70	Nace 70
Size	≥ 3 employees prior to 1980≥ 10 employees from 1980	≥ 3 employees prior to 1980≥ 10 employees from 1980
Occupation	Industrial workers, managerial, clerical	Industrial workers, managerial, clerical
Gender	Both, Male, Female	Both, Male, Female

Definitions

Wages and salaries

Earnings include the gross amounts  paid to employees before deduction of income tax, PRSI, etc. including overtime, service pay, shift and other allowances, commissions, production and regular bonuses, etc.  Irregular bonuses, back-pay and redundancy payments are excluded from the earnings returned for pay periods covering the reference week.  Bonuses and back-pay paid during the quarter are included but redundancy pay is also excluded. 

Hours Worked

The hours worked for industrial workers include the normal working hours of employees on holiday or sick leave with pay.

Methodological Note

From 1980 the coverage of the series was extended to include the electricity, gas and water supply sectors (NACE 13, 16 and 17). The earnings and hours worked estimates relate to industrial establishments with 10 or more persons engaged, as compared with 3 or more in former series. Additional estimates of average weekly earnings for clerical and managerial employees are published for major industrial sectors from 1985 on.

Data 1995 - 2008

Industrial Sectors

Survey Name	Quarterly Industrial Inquiry (QII)	Average of QII
Source	Industrial Earnings and Hours Worked	Industrial Earnings and Hours Worked
Time Period	Q3 1995 - Q2 2007	1995 - 2007
Period	Quarterly	Annual
Sector	NACE Rev 1.1	Nace Rev 1.1
Size	≥ 10 employees	≥ 10 employees
Occupation	Industrial workers, managerial, clerical	Industrial workers, managerial, clerical
Gender	Both, Male, Female	Both, Male, Female
Reference period	2nd Sunday March, September and December, 3rd in June (due to Bank holiday)

Definitions

Wages and Salaries

Earnings are gross amount paid to employees before deduction of income tax, PRSI etc, including overtime, service pay, shift and other allowances, commissions, production and regular bonuses. Irregular bonuses, back-pay and redundancy payments are excluded. 

Hours

These include the normal working hours of employees on holiday or sick-leave with pay; this ensures compatibility of the earnings and hours worked data for the estimation of average hourly earnings.  Overtime hours are included on the basis of hours actually worked.

Distribution and Business Services Sector

Survey Name	Distribution and Services	Distribution and Services
Source	Quarterly Inquiries to Enterprises	Quarterly Inquiries to Enterprises
Time Period	Q1 1998 - Q4 2008	1998 – 2008
Period	Quarterly	Annual
Sector	NACE Rev 1.1Distribution sector (NACE divisions 50 to 52)Business Services sector (NACE divisions 55, 60 to 64, and 70 to 74)
Size	Full time employees≥ 5 employees	Full time employees≥ 5 employees
Reference Period	A week in the months of March, June, September and December

Definitions

Wages and Salaries

Earnings include gross amount before the deduction of tax, PRSI, superannuation, etc. payable to employees, normal wages and salaries and overtime, taxable allowances, regular bonuses and commissions, as well as holiday pay and sick pay. Excluded are back-pay, redundancy pay, irregular bonuses (incl annual bonuses), and advances of pay, expenses, employers PRSI and any earnings paid at irregular intervals.

Earnings and Hours Worked in Construction

Survey Name	Quarterly Earnings and Hours Worked in Construction	Annual Earnings and Hours Worked in Construction
Source	Earnings and Hours Worked in Construction	Earnings and Hours Worked in Construction
Time Period	Q1 1969 - Q4 2008	1969 - 2008
Period	Quarterly	Annual
Sector	Construction sector	Construction sector
Size	1969 to 1975 ≥ 15 employees Post 1975 ≥ 10	1970 to 1975 ≥15 ee'sPost 1975 ≥10
Occupation	All Employees; Foremen and supervisors; Skilled operative; Unskilled and semi-skilled; Apprentices	All Employees; Foremen and supervisors; Skilled operative; Unskilled and semi-skilled; Apprentices
Gender	Both, Male, Female	Both, Male, Female
Reference Period	Specific week in the middle of the last month of each quarter

Definitions

Gross pay

Included in gross pay is overtime and all fixed allowances, before deduction of income tax and employee’s social insurance payments “wet time” payments but lodging allowance is not included.

Hours worked

Respondents were asked to include overtime hours as hours actually worked and not as hours paid for.  Travelling time, if applicable, and hours for which staff were paid for being available for work but were unable to do so due to the weather are also included.  The corresponding payments are included in earnings total.

Derived Averages

The average earnings and hours worked are derived from the total employment earnings and hours worked of all businesses responding in the quarter.

Financial Series Sector

Survey Name	Banking, Insurance and Building Societies Survey	Banking, Insurance and Building Societies Survey
Source	Banking, Insurance and Building Societies Release	Banking, Insurance and Building Societies Release
Time Period	Q1 1998 - Q2 2007	1998 - 2006
Period	Quarterly	Annual
Sector	Banking, Insurance and Building Societies
Reference period	2nd Sunday March, September and December, 3rd in June(because of Bank holiday)	Average of 4 quarters

Definitions

Wages and Salaries

Earnings include normal wages, salaries and overtime, taxable allowances, regular bonuses and commission holiday and sick pay for the period in question.  It excludes employer’s PRSI, back-pay and redundancy.

Data 2008 – 2015

All Economic Sectors

Survey Name	Earnings, Hours and Employment Costs Survey (EHECS)	Earnings, Hours and Employment Costs Survey (EHECS)
Source	Earnings and Labour Costs quarterly release	Earnings and Labour Costs annual release
Time Period	Q1 2008 - Q4 2015	2008 - 2015
Period	Quarterly	Annual
Sector	NACE Rev 2	NACE Rev 2
Size	≥ 3	≥ 3
Occupation	All employees; Managerial, professional, assoc prof; Clerical, sales and services; Production, transport and trade	All employees; Managerial, professional, assoc prof; Clerical, sales and services; Production, transport and trade
Reference period	Average of the quarter	Average of 4 quarters

Definitions

Wages and Salaries           

All wages and salaries payments are gross (i.e. before deduction of income tax and employees’ PRSI contributions and levies such as the public sector pension levy).  In the analysis, the total wages and salaries are divided into:

• Regular earnings: payments made regularly at each pay period during the year, excluding all irregular and overtime earnings.
• Overtime earnings: payment for hours worked in excess of normal hours.
• Total earnings excluding irregular earnings: regular earnings + overtime earnings.
• Irregular earnings: bonuses which are not paid regularly at each pay period. For example: end of quarter or year productivity bonus.
• Apprentices/Trainees earnings: total of apprentices & trainees' regular wages and salaries, overtime and irregular bonuses and allowances 

Hours

• Regular paid hours: These are normal working hours of employees, usually specified in the contract of employment and should include paid leave e.g. paid sick leave and annual leave.
• Overtime paid hours: Hours worked in excess of contracted hours.  
• Total paid hours: Sum of regular paid hours and overtime paid hours.

Sectoral Classifications

Pre 1970

Manufacturing Industries	4-47
Transportable Goods	1,2, 4-47  Manufacturing and Mining and Quarrying
All industries	1-47 Manufacturing, Mining and Quarrying and Electricity, gas and water

 NACE 70 1970

Manufacturing Industries	NACE 1-4 except  11,13,16,17,21,23 (Mining and Electricity)
Transportable Goods	NACE 1-4 except  13, 16, 17 (Electricity, gas and water)
All industries	NACE 1-4

 NACE REV 1 1990 (Minor update in 2002 NACE REV 1.1)

Manufacturing Industries	NACE D       15-37
Transportable Goods	NACE C,D   10-37
All industries	NACE C-E   10-41

 NACE REV 2 2008

Manufacturing Industries	NACE C     10-33
Transportable Goods	NACE B, C  5-33
All industries	NACE B, C, D-E 05-35

Occupational Classifications

Occupational Classification as per Industrial Earnings and Hours Worked Release December 1995 - 2007

Managerial Workers

Administrative, managerial and technical workers are included in this category

Clerical Workers

This employment category includes clerical and other office staff and sales representative

Industry Workers

This employment category includes operative, maintenance workers, storekeepers, packers, cleaners, basic supervisory staff and apprentices

Occupational Classification as per Earnings, Hours and Employment Costs survey (EHECS) from 2008 to 2015

Managerial Workers

Managers, professionals and associated professionals

Clerical Workers

Clerical, sales and service employees

Industrial Workers

Production, transport, craft and other manual workers

Differences between EHECS and discontinued sources

EHECS is not directly comparable with other discontinued short-term earnings surveys such as the Quarterly Industrial Inquiry (QII), the Quarterly Services Inquiry (QSI) and the Quarterly Earnings and Hours worked in Construction (QEC). The main differences are:

EHECS collects data on the entire reference quarter while the QII, QSI and QEC only collected data for a reference week in the quarter.

• Data on earnings and labour costs per hour is generally presented on the basis of hours paid and worked in EHECS.  Data on earnings per hour was presented on the basis of hours paid (including paid leave) in the QII.
• EHECS uses a standardised form for all NACE sectors with a standard occupational classification for all enterprises while the QII, QSI and QEC surveys had their own occupational classifications. However the EHECS category “Production, Craft and other Manual workers” corresponds broadly to the “Industrial” category in the QII; the EHECS category “Clerical, Sales and Service Workers” also corresponds broadly to the QII category “Clerical and other office staff”; the QII category “Managerial and technical staff” is largely equivalent to the EHECS category “Managers, Professional and Associated Professionals”.
• EHECS collects data for enterprises while the QII collected data for local units.
• Data on hours is collected for all categories of employees in EHECS, while such data was limited to the industrial workers in the QII, non-managerial employees in the QEC and not collected at all in the QSI.
• The earnings data collected for EHECS includes irregular earnings, irregular bonuses, etc while these items were excluded from the QII, QSI and QEC which only collected data on regular earnings (including regular bonuses) and overtime.
• Non-labour costs such as employers PRSI, other social costs, benefit in kind etc., are collected for EHECS but were not collected for the QII, QSI and QEC surveys.
• Data on employees in the QII, QSI and QEC was collected with regard to the reference week. EHECS employment data is collected with regard to the first and last day of the quarter.

Currency Conversion

Decimalisation 1971

Pounds, Shilling and Pence to Pounds and Pence

20 shillings = £1

240p = £1

European Monetary Union 1999, in circulation in 2002

Pounds and Pence to Euro and Cent

£1 = €1.27 

Real Earnings Calculations using the Consumer Price Index (CPI)

Using the Consumer Price Index average earnings at current prices were converted to average earnings at 2015 prices. This allows users to interpret historical earnings figures in relation to earnings of the present day. Real earnings in 2015 prices were calculated as follows for period t:

Real Earnings _t = (Nominal Earnings _t * CPI ₂₀₁₅ ) / CPI _t

Earnings Growth Rates

The growth rate in earnings for a particular year is calculated as follows:    Earnings growth = (Earnings _t - Earnings _t-1 ) / Earnings _t-1

The average annual growth rate in earnings over a period of time is calculated as follows:    

Average Annual Earnings Growth Rate from period x to z  = (Growth Rate_x + Growth Rate _y  ..... + Growth Rate _z ) / Number of periods

The above are the methods used to calculate earnings growth presented throughout the publication.

 

Alternative methods can be used to calculate the average annual earnings growth rate. One such method is the compound annual growth rate.

Compound Annual Growth Rate = ( EV / BV)^{1 / n} - 1

EV = Investment's ending value
BV = Investment's beginning value
n   = Number of periods (months, years, etc.)

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