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For more information on this release:
E-mail: earnings@cso.ie Brian Cahill (+353) 21 453 5173 Gerard Brett (+353) 21 453 5513 Karen Desmond/Ronan (+353) 21 453 5512/5216
For general information on CSO statistics:
information@cso.ie (+353) 21 453 5000 On-line ISSN 2009-5023
CSO statistical release, , 11am

Earnings and Labour Costs Quarterly

Q3 2017 (Final) Q4 2017 (Preliminary Estimates)

 Unadjusted Seasonally Adjusted
 Average Weekly EarningsAverage Hourly EarningsAverage Weekly Paid HoursAverage Hourly Total Labour CostsAverage Weekly EarningsAverage Hourly EarningsAverage Weekly Paid HoursAverage Hourly Total Labour Costs
  € €Hours € € €Hours €
Q4 2016716.8622.1532.425.71711.9122.1032.325.55
Q3 2017717.5722.1532.425.63723.1922.4732.326.14
Q4 2017*734.6022.6632.426.29726.3122.5132.226.15
Quarterly change %    0.40.2-0.3 -
Annual change %2.52.3-2.3    
* Preliminary Estimates    

Average weekly earnings up 2.5% in year to Q4 2017

Average weekly earnings by economic sector
go to full release

Average weekly earnings were €734.60 in Q4 2017, an increase of 2.5% from €716.86 one year earlier according to preliminary estimates of the Earnings and Labour Costs Quarterly release. Final data for average weekly earnings in Q3 2017 were €717.57 and showed an increase of 2.1% over the same period in 2016. See tables 1 and 4. 

Other features of the preliminary results for Q4 2017 include:

  • Average hourly earnings increased by 2.3% between Q4 2016 and Q4 2017, rising from €22.15 to €22.66. See table 2.
  • Average weekly paid hours were 32.4 in Q4 2017, no change from Q4 2016. See table 3.
  • Average hourly total labour costs were €26.29 in the fourth quarter of 2017, a rise of 2.3% from the value of €25.71 one year previously. See table 6c.
  • Seasonally adjusted average weekly earnings in Q4 2017 were €726.31, an increase of 0.4% from the previous quarter. See table 4.  
  • Average weekly earnings increased by 2.9% across the public sector in the year to Q4 2017, rising from €920.13 to €946.55.
  • Average earnings growth in the public sector can be partly attributed to wage restoration from April 2017. See table 8a.
  • The job vacancy rate at the end of Q4 2017 was 1.0%, an increase from 0.9% at the end of Q4 2016. See table 7c.

 

Unadjusted average weekly earnings increase in 10 of the 13 sectors in year to Q4 2017

Average weekly earnings were €734.60 in Q4 2017, which represents average earnings in the Irish economy, however there are variations in earnings across the sectors. The highest average weekly earnings of €1,100.79 were in the Information and Communication sector, followed by the Financial, insurance and real estate sector at €1,023.78. The lowest average weekly earnings were €350.04 in the Accommodation and food services sector and €472.83 in the Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities sector. See table 1 and figure 2.

Average weekly earnings increased in 10 of the 13 sectors in the economy in the year to Q4 2017. The largest percentage increase was 5.0% in the Information and Communication sector, in which average weekly earnings rose from €1,048.15 to €1,100.79 in the year to Q4 2017. The second largest increase was 4.4% jointly in the Professional, scientific and technical and the Accommodation and food services sectors which rose from €885.17 to €923.82 and from €335.22 to €350.04 respectively over the year. The Construction sector showed the largest annual decrease of 0.9%, falling from €751.49 to €744.53. See table 1 and figure 2.

Average weekly earnings in the public sector (including semi-state) showed an increase of 2.9% from €920.13 to €946.55 in the year to Q4 2017. Average earnings growth in the public sector can be partly attributed to wage restoration from April 2017. There was also an increase in average weekly earnings in the private sector of 2.3%, from €660.01 to €674.94 over the same period. See table 1. 

In the five years to Q4 2017 average weekly earnings rose by 6.0%, from €693.21 in Q4 2012 to €734.60. There were large differences in the changes to average weekly earnings across individual sectors over this time period, ranging between +1.6% in the Education sector to +16.8% in the Professional, scientific and technical sector. See table 1 and figure 2.

 

Note: The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is the official source of employment estimates in Ireland. At the time of finalising this release, Q4 2017 LFS employment estimates have not been published and as a result the Q4 2017 employment and job vacancy numbers have been omitted from this Earnings and Labour Costs Q4 2017 release (tables 7a and 7b). The Earnings and Labour Costs release will be revised in May 2018 to incorporate both the Q4 2017 LFS employment estimates and the recently published LFS employment series which was revised to account for Census of Population revisions and methodological changes. See LFS information note here for further details.

 

Note: While there is no internationally agreed methodology for assessing the public / private sector wage gap, the CSO has published analyses of the differential using the National Employment Survey for 2007-2010 and a matched Quarterly National Household Survey and P35 dataset for 2011-2014. These analyses 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 2014 was estimated to range from -0.36% to +5.05% depending on the specification applied and the treatment of the Pension Levy.  See analysis for 2007-2010 here and for 2011-2014 here.

 

5 Year % Change
Professional & technical16.8386705114585
Wholesale & retail11.0262281832702
Information and communication10.5854815052942
Accommodation & food9.25093632958803
Industry7.73497426934654
Transportation7.03865639530848
Admin & support service6.49887883708343
Total5.97077364723532
Construction5.73607521231573
Financial & real estate5.24595219737856
Arts & entertainment2.99736423639096
Public admin & defence1.94397970748556
Health & social1.94310205960189
Education1.59393339290459
                                                                       Nace code description
Total All Sectors K-L Financial, insurance and real estate activities
B-E Industry M Professional, scientific and technical activities
F Construction N Administrative and support service activities
G Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles O Public Administration and defence; compulsory social security
H Transportation and storage P Education
I Accommodation and food service activities Q Human health and social work activities
J Information and communication R-S Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities

 

Average hourly earnings increase 2.3% to €22.66 in year to Q4 2017

Average hourly earnings were €22.66 in Q4 2017. The sector with the highest average hourly earnings was the Education sector with a rate of €35.27, followed by the Information and Communication sector at €30.53. The lowest earning sectors were the Accommodation and food services sector with average hourly earnings of €13.00 and the Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities sector with a rate of €16.80.

Average hourly earnings increased from €22.15 in Q4 2016 to €22.66 in Q4 2017, representing an increase of 2.3%. Seasonally adjusted average hourly earnings increased 0.2% in the quarter to Q4 2017, rising from €22.47 to €22.51. See table 2, table 4 and figure 3.

 

UnadjustedSeasonally Adjusted
Q41022.1622.13
Q11122.2221.97
Q21121.9222.01
Q31121.621.96
Q41122.0921.96
Q11222.2522.02
Q21221.9822.03
Q31221.8322.08
Q41221.9221.88
Q11322.2321.97
Q21322.0421.97
Q31321.5222
Q41321.8921.99
Q11422.3621.88
Q21421.8221.88
Q31421.2121.73
Q41422.0821.92
Q11522.3221.93
Q21521.8921.91
Q31521.5121.85
Q41521.9221.91
Q11622.5222.03
Q21621.9821.96
Q31621.5521.96
Q41622.1522.1
Q11722.6622.25
Q21722.2422.34
Q31722.1522.47
Q41722.6622.51

Average hourly earnings increased in 11 of the 13 sectors in the year to Q4 2017. The Professional, scientific and technical sector had the largest increase in average hourly earnings of 5.6% rising from €25.73 to €27.17 in the year. The Transportation and storage sector saw the largest decrease in average hourly earnings in Q4 2017, falling 1.5% from €21.55 to €21.22. See table 2 and figure 4.

Q4 2016Q4 2017
Industry22.4623
Construction20.4220.33
Wholesale & retail18.3918.57
Transportation21.5521.22
Accommodation & food12.613
Information & communication29.1330.53
Financial & real estate28.8729.73
Professional & technical25.7327.17
Admin & support service17.2117.54
Public admin & defence25.225.58
Education33.7635.27
Health & social22.2222.63
Arts & entertainment16.716.8
All sectors22.1522.66

In the five years to Q4 2017 overall average hourly earnings increased by 3.4% from €21.92 to €22.66. Over this period average hourly earnings have increased in 10 of the 13 sectors. The largest percentage increase was recorded in the Information and communication sector (+10.5%) rising from €27.62 to €30.53. The largest percentage decrease in average hourly earnings over the same period was recorded the Public administration and defence sector (-2.5%) falling from €26.24 to €25.58.

Enterprises with less than 50 employees showed an annual increase of 1.9% in average hourly earnings in Q4 2017, up from €18.60 to €18.95. Enterprises with between 50 and 250 employees recorded an increase in average hourly earnings of 2.0%, from €20.15 to €20.56 over the same period. Finally, enterprises with greater than 250 employees showed an increase of 1.8% in the year to Q4 2017 for average hourly earnings with values rising from €25.35 to €25.80.

Public sector average hourly earnings rose 2.6%, from €28.23 to €28.97 in the year to Q4 2017. Private sector average hourly earnings increased 2.1% from €20.44 to €20.87, over the same period. 

Average weekly paid hours remain unchanged in the year to Q4 2017

Average weekly paid hours were 32.4 across the economic sectors in the fourth quarter of 2017. There are sectoral variations in average weekly paid hours with workers in the Industry sector recording the highest number at 38.6 followed by the Public administration and defence sector at 36.9. The sectors with the lowest average weekly paid hours were Education at 23.9 and Accommodation and food services at 26.9. See table 3, table 4 and figure 5.

UnadjustedSeasonally Adjusted
Q41031.831.5
Q11130.931.4
Q21131.431.4
Q31131.931.5
Q41131.731.6
Q11231.531.7
Q21231.531.5
Q31231.831.5
Q41231.631.6
Q11331.231.6
Q21331.631.6
Q31331.731.6
Q41331.731.6
Q11431.331.7
Q21431.831.8
Q31431.931.8
Q41431.931.8
Q11531.531.9
Q2153232
Q31532.232.1
Q41532.532.1
Q11631.732
Q21632.232.1
Q31632.632.2
Q41632.432.3
Q1173232.4
Q21732.432.4
Q31732.432.3
Q41732.432.2

Average weekly paid hours remained unchanged in the year to Q4 2017. Seasonally adjusted average weekly paid hours decreased 0.3% in the quarter from 32.3 to 32.2 in Q4 2017.

The largest annual percentage increase in average weekly paid hours in Q4 2017 was recorded in the Administrative and support services and the Human health and social work activities sectors, both increasing 1.6%, from 30.9 to 31.4 hours and from 30.8 to 31.3 hours respectively. The largest percentage decrease over the same period was seen in the Financial, insurance and real estate sector (-2.3%) from 35.2 to 34.4 hours.

Enterprises between 50 and 250 employees and with greater than 250 employees recorded increases in weekly paid hours in the year to Q4 2017 of 1.8% and 0.6% respectively. Enterprises with less than 50 employees showed a decrease in average weekly paid hours of 1.3% over the same period. 

The public sector recorded an increase in average weekly paid hours of 0.3% from 32.6 to 32.7 in the year to Q4 2017. The private sector average weekly paid hours saw no change over the same period, remaining at 32.3. See table 3.

Average hourly total labour costs increase by 2.3% in year to Q4 2017

Average hourly total labour costs were €26.29 across all the economic sectors in Q4 2017. The sector with the highest average hourly total labour costs was the Education sector with a rate of €39.00, followed by the Information and communication sector at €38.06. The sectors with the lowest cost of employing labour were the Accommodation and food services sector with average hourly total labour costs of €14.39 and the Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities sector with €19.06. 

Unadjusted average hourly total labour costs increased by 2.3% in the year to Q4 2017. Seasonally adjusted average hourly total labour costs increased by €0.01 in the quarter to €26.15 in Q4 2017.

The largest annual percentage increase in average hourly total labour costs was seen in the Professional, scientific and technical sector, rising by 4.9% from €30.17 to €31.65 per hour. The Construction sector recorded the largest annual percentage decrease in average hourly total labour costs, decreasing by 1.3% from €22.99 to €22.68.

In the year to Q4 2017 the average hourly total labour costs in firms with less than 50 employees increased by 1.8% (from €21.12 to €21.50), while there was also a 1.0% increase for firms with 50 to 250 employees (from €23.61 to €23.84). Enterprises with greater than 250 employees recorded an increase of 2.0% in average hourly total labour costs over the same period (from €29.65 to €30.24). See table 4 and table 6c.

The public sector average hourly total labour costs increased 2.8% in the year to Q4 2017, from €31.36 to €32.24 while the private sector recorded an increase in average hourly total labour costs of 2.0% from €24.11 to €24.59 in the year.

Average hourly total labour costs increased by 3.1% over the five years to Q4 2017, from €25.49 per hour to €26.29. The percentage changes across the sectors ranged from +13.3% in the Information and communication sector (from €33.60 to €38.06) to -1.5% in the Public administration and defence sector (from €28.25 to €27.83). See table 6c and figure 6.

5 Year % Change
Information and communication13.2738095238095
Professional & technical8.875128998968
Wholesale & retail8.85757423251131
Admin & support service6.34666666666667
Accommodation & food5.73108008817047
Industry5.257228689448
Total3.13848568065909
Arts & entertainment3.08274743104381
Construction2.11616389013957
Transportation1.13636363636364
Education-0.0768639508070744
Financial & real estate-0.23752969121141
Health & social-0.474495848161318
Public admin & defence-1.48672566371682

Average weekly earnings increase 2.9% across the public sector in year to Q4 2017

Average weekly earnings were €946.55 across the public sector in Q4 2017. An Garda Síochána recorded the highest average weekly earnings in the public sector of €1,288.81 in Q4 2017, followed by Semi-State Bodies, which recorded average weekly earnings of €1,049.97. The Regional Bodies sector had the lowest average weekly earnings of €824.23. The Education sector recorded the highest average hourly earnings in the quarter of €39.32 while also showing the lowest hours worked of 24.5. An Garda Síochána had the next highest average hourly earnings in the quarter of €29.31 while also working the longest hours of 44.0. 

Average weekly earnings increased by 2.9% across the public sector in the year to Q4 2017, rising from €920.13 to €946.55. Average earnings growth in the public sector can be partly attributed to wage restoration from April 2017. Six of the seven public sector sub-sectors had annual increases in average weekly earnings, with An Garda Síochána recording the largest rise of 5.8% from €1,218.56 to €1,288.81 in the year to Q4 2017. The Regional Bodies sector recorded the only decrease of 0.8% dropping from €830.78 to €824.23 over the same period. See tables 8a, 8b, 8c and figure 7.

Q4 2016Q4 2017
Civil service907.82931.28
Defence808.95843.24
Garda Siochana1218.561288.81
Education927.13962.8
Regional bodies830.78824.23
Health868.42895.8
Semi-state1033.521049.97
All sectors920.13946.55

Annual increase of 2.5% in public sector employment in Q4 2017

The estimated number of persons employed in the public sector showed an increase of 2.5% over the year to Q4 2017 from 386,300 to 396,100. 

In the year to Q4 2017 the largest percentage increase was recorded in An Garda Síochána sector, increasing 4.5% from 13,200 to 13,800. The Defence sector saw a fall of 1.1% in employment over the same period. Over the five years from Q4 2012 to Q4 2017 overall employment numbers in the public sector have increased by 3.7% from 381,800 to 396,100. See table 8e and figure 8.

Q4 2016Q4 2017
Civil service3990041200
Defence95009400
Garda Siochana1320013800
Education112000113800
Regional bodies3310033500
Health125600129900
Semi-state5310054500

Table 8e contains estimates of public sector employment numbers by sub-sector within the overall public sector. Public sector employment is spread across a number of NACE economic sectors and includes Semi-state bodies in sectors such as Transportation and storage and Information and communication. Furthermore, while employment in the Public administration and defence, Education, Human health and social work sectors is for the most part comprised of public sector employees, there is some element of private sector employment across these sectors.

Job vacancy rate increases to 1.0% in Q4 2017

The job vacancy rate at the end of Q4 2017 was 1.0%, up from a rate of 0.9% at the end of Q4 2016. In Q4 2017 the Professional, scientific and technical sector had the highest job vacancy rate of 2.9%, followed by the Financial, insurance and real estate sector with a rate of 2.4%. The Industry, Construction and Transportation and storage sectors all shared the lowest job vacancy rate of 0.5% at the end of Q4 2017. See table 7c and figure 9.

Job Vacancy Rate
Q3090.3
Q4090.3
Q1100.4
Q2100.5
Q3100.5
Q4100.5
Q1110.5
Q2110.6
Q3110.5
Q4110.5
Q1120.6
Q2120.5
Q3120.6
Q4120.6
Q1130.6
Q2130.7
Q3130.7
Q4130.7
Q1140.7
Q2140.7
Q3140.8
Q4140.7
Q1151
Q2150.9
Q3151
Q4150.9
Q1161
Q2160.9
Q3161
Q4160.9
Q1171
Q2171.1
Q3171.1
Q4171
Table 1 Average weekly earnings by economic sector and other characteristics and quarter¹
NACE Principal Activity2012201320142015201620172017Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q4Q4Q4Q4Q4Q3Q4*
  %%
B-EIndustry823.92831.95858.09859.01867.93855.52887.6532.133.819.722.3
FConstruction704.14732.27755.61749.57751.49741.24744.533.290.4-6.96-0.9
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles519.67533.93529.39551.81572.06553.33576.9723.644.34.910.9
HTransportation and storage720.45756.21756.18755.46772.61775.43771.16-4.27-0.6-1.45-0.2
IAccommodation and food services320.40315.71321.20324.37335.22343.18350.046.862.014.824.4
JInformation and communication995.421,004.101,031.691,070.551,048.151,081.611,100.7919.181.852.645.0
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate972.75976.351,076.121,022.291,017.381,006.141,023.7817.641.86.400.6
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities790.68818.31792.08829.03885.17879.31923.8244.515.138.654.4
NAdministrative and support services 517.32496.79500.42527.29531.58544.51550.946.431.219.363.6
OPublic administration and defence926.45925.73921.54928.81921.77940.42944.464.040.422.692.5
PEducation828.14817.36805.55822.45812.63830.43841.3410.911.328.713.5
QHuman health and social work695.28672.61679.14695.96685.15701.09708.797.701.123.643.5
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities459.07488.35487.60470.55475.91459.46472.8313.372.9-3.08-0.6
Total 693.21694.50703.91712.02716.86717.57734.6017.032.417.742.5
Public/Private Sector²           
Private sector623.87630.11643.17649.52660.01654.45674.9420.493.114.932.3
Public sector¹921.42907.83910.98927.83920.13943.33946.553.220.326.422.9
Size of Enterprise           
Less than 50 employees543.55550.99552.42558.13573.12557.89575.2517.363.12.130.4
50-250 employees652.38647.94654.63667.63655.68658.61681.0122.403.425.333.9
Greater than 250 employees828.07819.61831.45842.43847.39854.33866.9912.661.519.602.3
¹ Average weekly earnings by Public sector sub-sector are set out in Table 8a.
² For additional Public/Private data see StatBank table EHQ08.
* Preliminary Estimates
Table 2 Average hourly earnings by economic sector and other characteristics and quarter¹
NACE Principal Activity2012201320142015201620172017Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q4Q4Q4Q4Q4Q3Q4*
  %%
B-EIndustry21.9121.8722.3722.1122.4622.4523.000.552.40.542.4
FConstruction19.7320.3219.9620.2920.4219.8620.330.472.4-0.09-0.4
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles16.9417.4217.3417.6518.3917.6418.570.935.30.181.0
HTransportation and storage20.1521.4620.9620.5021.5521.3021.22-0.08-0.4-0.33-1.5
IAccommodation and food services12.4812.2612.4112.3912.6012.5513.000.453.60.403.2
JInformation and communication27.6227.5028.4129.3929.1329.7630.530.772.61.404.8
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate28.4128.7731.1728.9128.8729.1429.730.592.00.863.0
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities24.8224.7524.5124.6825.7325.9327.171.244.81.445.6
NAdministrative and support services 16.5616.6016.6217.0117.2117.5017.540.040.20.331.9
OPublic administration and defence26.2425.4625.5025.6325.2025.6425.58-0.06-0.20.381.5
PEducation35.4734.3334.3734.2633.7634.9235.270.351.01.514.5
QHuman health and social work22.9222.3122.1822.0222.2222.6322.63--0.411.8
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities16.3117.1517.3816.8716.7016.2716.800.533.30.100.6
Total 21.9221.8922.0821.9222.1522.1522.660.512.30.512.3
Public/Private Sector²           
Private sector19.7219.9420.2420.0620.4420.2420.870.633.10.432.1
Public sector¹29.1828.2628.2928.2528.2328.9428.970.030.10.742.6
Size of Enterprise           
Less than 50 employees17.9718.3318.2918.1618.6018.3118.950.643.50.351.9
50-250 employees20.0619.8419.9820.2020.1519.9820.560.582.90.412.0
Greater than 250 employees25.5725.1225.3825.1125.3525.4725.800.331.30.451.8
¹ Average hourly earnings by Public sector sub-sector are set out in Table 8b.
² For additional Public/Private data see statbank table EHQ08.
* Preliminary Estimates
Table 3 Average weekly paid hours by economic sector and other characteristics and quarter¹
NACE Principal Activity2012201320142015201620172017Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q4Q4Q4Q4Q4Q3Q4*
  hourshourshourshourshourshourshourshours%hours%
B-EIndustry37.638.038.438.838.638.138.60.51.3--
FConstruction35.736.037.936.936.837.336.6-0.7-1.9-0.2-0.5
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles30.730.730.531.331.131.431.1-0.3-1.0--
HTransportation and storage35.835.236.136.935.836.436.3-0.1-0.30.51.4
IAccommodation and food services25.725.725.926.226.627.326.9-0.4-1.50.31.1
JInformation and communication36.036.536.336.436.036.336.1-0.2-0.60.10.3
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate34.233.934.535.435.234.534.4-0.1-0.3-0.8-2.3
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities31.933.132.333.634.433.934.00.10.3-0.4-1.2
NAdministrative and support services 31.229.930.131.030.931.131.40.31.00.51.6
OPublic administration and defence35.336.436.136.236.636.736.90.20.50.30.8
PEducation23.323.823.424.024.123.823.90.10.4-0.2-0.8
QHuman health and social work30.330.230.631.630.831.031.30.31.00.51.6
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities28.128.528.127.928.528.228.2---0.3-1.1
Total 31.631.731.932.532.432.432.4----
Public/Private Sector²           
Private sector31.631.631.832.432.332.332.3----
Public sector¹31.632.132.232.832.632.632.70.10.30.10.3
Size of Enterprise           
Less than 50 employees30.230.130.230.730.830.530.4-0.1-0.3-0.4-1.3
50-250 employees32.532.732.833.132.533.033.10.10.30.61.8
Greater than 250 employees32.432.632.833.533.433.533.60.10.30.20.6
¹ Average weekly paid hours by Public sector sub-sector are set out in Table 8c.
² For additional Public/Private data see statbank table EHQ08.
* Preliminary Estimates
Table 4 Earnings, hours and labour costs, unadjusted and seasonally adjusted by other characteristics and quarter
Unadjusted Series Seasonally Adjusted Series
QuarterAverage weekly earningsAverage weekly paid hoursAverage hourly earningsAverage hourly other labour costsAverage hourly total labour costs Average weekly earningsAverage weekly paid hoursAverage hourly earningsAverage hourly other labour costsAverage hourly total labour costs
Q108704.8532.721.533.5025.03 702.1032.921.133.4724.50
Q208706.5632.921.513.4024.91 707.2132.921.503.4624.99
Q308697.6332.921.213.4224.63 710.6232.721.673.5125.17
Q408721.2732.522.173.6025.77 713.6332.521.853.4925.40
Q109710.7731.722.443.5926.03 712.3232.022.163.6125.72
Q209702.6331.922.023.6525.66 706.6031.922.143.6625.75
Q309700.0532.021.893.4925.38 706.2431.922.173.5825.79
Q409723.7232.122.523.6626.18 708.2231.722.333.5425.94
Q110691.4031.122.223.3625.58 703.2831.822.123.3825.41
Q210698.6231.722.053.2925.34 699.7931.722.083.3025.43
Q310701.4032.221.793.1324.92 699.1831.722.153.2125.43
Q410705.7831.822.163.2725.43 695.8431.522.133.1625.29
Q111686.8530.922.223.1425.36 692.0231.421.973.1625.10
Q211689.3231.421.923.1425.06 691.6331.422.013.1525.14
Q311688.5831.921.603.0824.68 691.0931.521.963.1625.10
Q411699.1931.722.093.2925.38 690.0531.621.963.1825.23
Q112699.9831.522.253.2525.50 693.4731.722.023.2625.32
Q212693.5031.521.983.2925.27 694.4631.522.033.3025.33
Q312693.7431.821.833.3125.14 693.4931.522.083.4025.42
Q412693.2131.621.923.5825.49 692.6231.621.883.4625.32
Q113693.6131.222.233.4525.68 693.0131.621.973.4125.41
Q213697.2131.622.043.3225.36 694.7331.621.973.3925.40
Q313682.2831.721.523.2224.74 694.5631.622.003.3025.38
Q413694.5031.721.893.7225.61 696.8331.621.993.6025.47
Q114700.3931.322.363.4025.77 692.5131.721.883.4125.29
Q214694.9831.821.823.3725.20 696.1731.821.883.3825.22
Q314677.1331.921.213.2624.47 692.2531.821.733.3425.10
Q414703.9131.922.083.5125.59 700.6631.821.923.4125.33
Q115702.9531.522.323.4525.77 701.5231.921.933.4625.31
Q215700.6632.021.893.4425.33 700.5532.021.913.4425.34
Q315693.5732.221.513.3424.84 702.6032.121.853.4225.34
Q415712.0232.521.923.4525.37 701.7732.121.913.3625.31
Q116713.4131.722.523.4826.00 703.9532.022.033.4425.44
Q216707.0232.221.983.4625.44 705.4632.121.963.5125.46
Q316702.6932.621.553.4524.99 708.0232.221.963.5325.50
Q416716.8632.422.153.5525.71 711.9132.322.103.4725.55
Q117724.4432.022.663.5026.17 721.9132.422.253.5225.75
Q217719.5732.422.243.5625.81 721.7532.422.343.5525.88
Q317717.5732.422.153.4725.63 723.1932.322.473.5526.14
Q417*734.6032.422.663.6326.29 726.3132.222.513.5526.15
*Preliminary Estimates
Table 5a Average hourly earnings excluding irregular earnings by economic sector and other characteristics and quarter¹²
NACE Principal Activity2012201320142015201620172017Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q4Q4Q4Q4Q4Q3Q4*
  %%
B-EIndustry20.5120.5120.8620.7221.0321.4421.550.110.50.522.5
FConstruction19.3419.7119.2219.3819.8319.3819.980.603.10.150.8
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles16.0016.3716.3516.5817.0516.9817.250.271.60.201.2
HTransportation and storage18.6419.8419.6319.3620.0820.4720.05-0.42-2.1-0.03-0.1
IAccommodation and food services12.2212.0212.1412.0212.2712.3012.660.362.90.393.2
JInformation and communication25.7025.3125.6726.4026.4026.4726.670.200.80.271.0
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate26.8726.6826.9727.1527.3128.1928.360.170.61.053.8
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities23.7223.6623.0423.1824.2124.5924.720.130.50.512.1
NAdministrative and support services 15.5815.7815.9316.0116.2316.7916.69-0.10-0.60.462.8
OPublic administration and defence25.2424.4524.4624.4824.1924.3924.550.160.70.361.5
PEducation34.8233.7833.8033.7733.2434.5134.740.230.71.504.5
QHuman health and social work21.8521.3621.2821.1021.2321.6721.63-0.04-0.20.401.9
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities15.6316.3016.5916.0315.8515.8916.170.281.80.322.0
Total 20.8620.8020.8220.7720.9921.2421.440.200.90.452.1
Public/Private Sector³           
Private sector18.7418.8618.9418.9219.2719.4119.630.221.10.361.9
Public sector²27.8627.1227.1427.0927.0727.7627.820.060.20.752.8
Size of Enterprise           
Less than 50 employees17.2717.5017.5317.3717.8017.8818.040.160.90.241.3
50-250 employees19.1318.8018.9519.0519.0819.2519.530.281.50.452.4
Greater than 250 employees24.2023.8323.7123.7323.9024.1924.320.130.50.421.8
¹ Average hourly earnings excluding irregular earnings plus the average hourly irregular earnings in Table 5b equal average hourly earnings as set out in Table 2.
² Average hourly earnings excluding irregular earnings by Public sector sub-sector are set out in Table 8d.
³ For additional Public/Private data see statbank table EHQ08.
* Preliminary Estimates
Table 5b Average hourly irregular earnings by economic sector and other characteristics and quarter¹²
NACE Principal Activity2012201320142015201620172017Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q4Q4Q4Q4Q4Q3Q4*
  
B-EIndustry1.401.361.511.391.441.011.450.440.01
FConstruction0.400.610.730.920.580.480.35-0.13-0.23
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles0.951.050.991.071.340.661.330.67-0.01
HTransportation and storage1.511.621.331.131.480.831.180.35-0.30
IAccommodation and food services0.260.240.270.380.320.250.340.090.02
JInformation and communication1.922.192.742.992.733.293.850.561.12
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate1.542.094.201.751.560.951.370.42-0.19
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities1.101.091.471.501.521.342.451.110.93
NAdministrative and support services 0.980.820.691.000.970.710.860.15-0.11
OPublic administration and defence1.001.011.041.151.011.251.03-0.220.02
PEducation0.650.550.560.490.520.420.530.110.01
QHuman health and social work1.070.950.900.920.990.950.990.04-
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities0.680.850.790.840.850.380.630.25-0.22
Total 1.051.091.261.151.160.911.220.310.06
Public/Private Sector³         
Private sector0.981.081.291.141.170.831.240.410.07
Public sector²1.311.141.151.161.161.181.15-0.03-0.01
Size of Enterprise         
Less than 50 employees0.700.830.760.790.800.440.910.470.11
50-250 employees0.931.041.041.151.070.731.030.30-0.04
Greater than 250 employees1.371.291.681.391.451.281.480.200.03
¹ Average hourly irregular earnings plus the average hourly earnings excluding irregular earnings in Table 5a equal average hourly earnings as set out in Table 2.  
² Average hourly earnings excluding irregular earnings by Public sector sub-sector are set out in Table 8d.  
³ For additional Public/Private data see statbank table EHQ08.  
* Preliminary Estimates  
Table 6a Average hourly other labour costs by economic sector and other characteristics and quarter
NACE Principal Activity2012201320142015201620172017Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q4Q4Q4Q4Q4Q3Q4*
  %%
B-EIndustry4.725.025.144.915.214.695.030.347.2-0.18-3.5
FConstruction2.472.552.732.552.572.432.35-0.08-3.3-0.22-8.6
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles2.932.732.762.862.952.913.060.155.20.113.7
HTransportation and storage4.494.343.693.643.473.473.700.236.60.236.6
IAccommodation and food services1.131.141.331.341.311.351.390.043.00.086.1
JInformation and communication5.9810.806.546.927.337.407.530.131.80.202.7
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate9.488.567.717.057.287.458.060.618.20.7810.7
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities4.254.413.864.054.444.194.480.296.90.040.9
NAdministrative and support services 2.192.272.352.422.372.412.40-0.01-0.40.031.3
OPublic administration and defence2.012.052.092.132.152.262.25-0.01-0.40.104.7
PEducation3.563.473.543.593.633.773.74-0.03-0.80.113.0
QHuman health and social work2.372.272.412.422.462.492.550.062.40.093.7
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities2.172.522.492.352.242.162.260.104.60.020.9
Total 3.583.723.513.453.553.473.630.164.60.082.3
Public/Private Sector¹           
Private sector3.683.913.643.573.673.553.730.185.10.061.6
Public sector3.223.093.043.053.133.213.270.061.90.144.5
Size of Enterprise           
Less than 50 employees2.592.502.422.412.522.502.550.052.00.031.2
50-250 employees3.223.563.523.273.453.103.280.185.8-0.17-4.9
Greater than 250 employees4.444.624.224.224.304.254.430.184.20.133.0
¹ For additional Public/Private data see statbank table EHQ08.
* Preliminary Estimates
Table 6b Average hourly benefits in kind (BIK) by economic sector and other characteristics and quarter¹
NACE Principal Activity2012201320142015201620172017Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q4Q4Q4Q4Q4Q3Q4*
  
B-EIndustry0.300.180.200.230.300.210.330.120.03
FConstruction0.060.090.070.060.110.080.05-0.03-0.06
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles0.310.320.360.300.310.260.380.120.07
HTransportation and storage0.090.110.110.100.080.100.08-0.02-
IAccommodation and food services0.010.010.020.020.020.020.02--
JInformation and communication0.621.091.041.791.932.092.02-0.070.09
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate0.660.280.350.290.290.520.32-0.200.03
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities0.240.220.180.420.450.310.30-0.01-0.15
NAdministrative and support services 0.130.120.170.170.150.110.09-0.02-0.06
OPublic administration and defence0.010.010.010.010.010.000.00--0.01
PEducation0.010.010.010.010.010.000.00--0.01
QHuman health and social work0.010.010.010.010.010.010.01--
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities0.160.160.210.230.140.130.12-0.01-0.02
Total 0.200.180.190.230.250.230.250.02-
Public/Private Sector²         
Private sector0.260.230.250.290.310.300.320.020.01
Public sector0.010.010.010.010.010.010.01--
Size of Enterprise         
Less than 50 employees0.140.180.160.150.150.140.14--0.01
50-250 employees0.170.180.190.160.190.160.190.03-
Greater than 250 employees0.260.180.220.300.330.320.350.030.02
¹ Average hourly beneifts in kind (BIK) are a sub-component of average hourly other labour costs as set out in Table 6a. BIK is considered an income rather than an other labour cost by
Eurostat and in Structure of Earnings Statistics
² For additional Public/Private data see statbank table EHQ08.
* Preliminary Estimates
Table 6c Average hourly total labour costs by economic sector and other characteristics and quarter¹
NACE Principal Activity2012201320142015201620172017Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q4Q4Q4Q4Q4Q3Q4*
  %%
B-EIndustry26.6326.8827.5127.0227.6727.1428.030.893.30.361.3
FConstruction22.2122.8722.6922.8422.9922.2922.680.391.7-0.31-1.3
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles19.8720.1520.1120.5121.3420.5521.631.085.30.291.4
HTransportation and storage24.6425.8024.6624.1325.0324.7824.920.140.6-0.11-0.4
IAccommodation and food services13.6113.4013.7413.7313.9113.9014.390.493.50.483.5
JInformation and communication33.6038.2934.9536.3136.4737.1638.060.902.41.594.4
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate37.8937.3338.8835.9536.1536.5937.801.213.31.654.6
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities29.0729.1528.3728.7330.1730.1231.651.535.11.484.9
NAdministrative and support services 18.7518.8718.9719.4319.5819.9119.940.030.20.361.8
OPublic administration and defence28.2527.5127.5927.7627.3527.9027.83-0.07-0.30.481.8
PEducation39.0337.8037.9037.8537.3938.6939.000.310.81.614.3
QHuman health and social work25.2924.5824.5924.4324.6825.1225.170.050.20.492.0
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities18.4919.6719.8719.2218.9418.4219.060.643.50.120.6
Total 25.4925.6125.5925.3725.7125.6326.290.662.60.582.3
Public/Private Sector²           
Private sector23.4023.8523.8823.6324.1123.7924.590.803.40.482.0
Public sector32.4031.3531.3331.3031.3632.1632.240.080.20.882.8
Size of Enterprise           
Less than 50 employees20.5720.8320.7120.5721.1220.8121.500.693.30.381.8
50-250 employees23.2823.4023.5023.4723.6123.0923.840.753.20.231.0
Greater than 250 employees30.0129.7429.6129.3429.6529.7130.240.531.80.592.0
¹ Average hourly total labour costs equal the average hourly earnings in Table 2 plus the average hourly other labour costs as set out in Table 6a.
² For additional Public/Private data see statbank table EHQ08.
* Preliminary Estimates
Table 7a Employment by economic sector and other characteristics and quarter¹
NACE Principal Activity20102011201220132014201520162017
Q4Q4Q4Q4Q4Q4Q4Q3
B-EIndustry202,200202,100195,300199,000200,000205,700212,700223,500
FConstruction63,30066,50060,70059,40069,90077,60089,20090,400
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles278,000276,100280,000275,200282,300286,200295,000291,600
HTransportation and storage66,90062,70061,60062,20063,00065,30070,60067,200
IAccommodation and food services122,600122,300125,200141,400142,700149,700156,900168,600
JInformation and communication51,40055,30059,20058,80061,30062,60064,80069,300
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate85,50090,40089,70084,90087,80085,30089,30089,100
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities69,00067,00072,80081,50083,40086,50094,50089,400
NAdministrative and support services 72,50077,70074,00074,30079,40081,30078,80087,100
OPublic administration and defence114,900113,900106,300105,400104,900110,300111,400113,100
PEducation135,100129,200129,600131,700137,500134,900140,400142,300
QHuman health and social work218,800222,300223,500228,200226,300232,400235,700238,400
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities48,50049,00047,10045,40044,90048,00052,70052,300
Total 1,528,7001,534,5001,525,1001,547,4001,583,4001,625,8001,691,9001,722,400
Public/Private Sector²        
Private sector1,124,6001,142,9001,143,2001,170,9001,209,5001,246,2001,305,6001,330,100
Public sector404,100391,600381,800376,500374,000379,600386,300392,300
¹ It should be noted that the Labour Force Survey (LFS) is the official source of estimates of employment.
² For additional Public/Private data see statbank table EHQ08.
Table 7b Job vacancies by economic sector and other characteristics and quarter
NACE Principal Activity20102011201220132014201520162017
Q4Q4Q4Q4Q4Q4Q4Q3
B-EIndustry8001,0001,0001,0001,1001,1001,0001,200
FConstruction100400200200200200500600
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles1,1009001,0001,5001,6001,4002,3001,900
HTransportation and storage200100200200600200400300
IAccommodation and food services2003005004005007001,2001,500
JInformation and communication7001,0001,3001,1001,1001,5001,1001,300
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate1,1001,4001,8001,8001,6001,6001,7002,200
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities4006007007008001,5001,7002,500
NAdministrative and support services 9002007006006001,200900700
OPublic administration and defence5004004007008001,4001,0001,500
PEducation3004005005004005007001,000
QHuman health and social work6007001,2001,8001,3002,4003,1003,200
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities300100300200300400300500
Total 7,2007,5009,70010,60010,90014,00015,90018,300
Public/Private Sector¹        
Private sector6,2006,5008,2008,5009,00010,50012,20013,600
Public sector1,0001,0001,5002,0001,9003,5003,6004,800
¹ For additional Public/Private data see statbank table EHQ08.
Table 7c Job vacancy rate by economic sector and other characteristics and quarter
NACE Principal Activitity201020112012201320142015201620172017
Q4Q4Q4Q4Q4Q4Q4Q3Q4*
  %%%%%%%%%
B-EIndustry0.40.50.50.50.60.50.50.50.5
FConstruction0.20.70.30.30.30.30.60.70.5
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles0.40.30.30.50.60.50.80.70.7
HTransportation and storage0.30.20.30.30.90.20.50.40.5
IAccommodation and food services0.20.20.40.30.40.50.70.90.6
JInformation and communication1.31.72.21.81.82.41.71.91.5
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate1.31.52.02.01.81.81.82.52.4
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities0.50.91.00.80.91.71.72.72.9
NAdministrative and support services 1.20.30.90.80.71.51.20.80.7
OPublic administration and defence0.40.40.40.70.71.20.81.31.0
PEducation0.20.30.40.30.30.40.50.71.0
QHuman health and social work0.30.30.50.80.61.01.31.31.2
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities0.50.30.70.30.60.80.71.00.8
Total 0.50.50.60.70.70.90.91.11.0
Public/Private Sector¹         
Private Sector0.50.60.70.70.70.80.91.01.0
Public Sector0.20.30.40.50.50.90.91.21.0
¹ For additional Public/Private data see statbank table EHQ08.
* Preliminary Estimates
Table 8a Average weekly earnings by public sector sub-sector and quarter
Public sector sub-sector2012201320142015201620172017Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q4Q4Q4Q4Q4Q3Q4*
 %%
Civil service932.44924.16927.65926.83907.82900.70931.2830.583.423.462.6
Defence844.84895.83832.44807.19808.95900.01843.24-56.77-6.334.294.2
Garda Siochana1,142.171,131.971,142.021,229.131,218.561,322.321,288.81-33.51-2.570.255.8
Education937.39920.98913.84932.25927.13966.70962.80-3.90-0.435.673.8
Regional bodies831.31830.74831.98834.77830.78818.11824.236.120.7-6.55-0.8
Health877.64851.99869.82893.84868.42888.91895.806.890.827.383.2
Semi-state1,003.36994.88988.03998.921,033.521,039.031,049.9710.941.116.451.6
Total public sector921.42907.83910.98927.83920.13943.33946.553.220.326.422.9
Total public sector excluding semi- state bodies909.08894.91898.46916.37902.23928.48931.312.830.329.083.2
Semi-state by sub-sector           
Non Commercial Semi-state bodies1,030.991,019.32961.34952.35973.41977.39995.1217.731.821.712.2
Commercial Semi-state bodies995.46987.99998.021,016.291,054.711,061.391,070.609.210.915.891.5
* Preliminary Estimates
Table 8b Average hourly earnings by public sector sub-sector and quarter
Public sector sub-sector2012201320142015201620172017Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q4Q4Q4Q4Q4Q3Q4*
 %%
Civil service26.9325.4725.5525.5024.9424.9225.360.441.80.421.7
Defence23.5724.9023.3222.6822.7925.3423.63-1.71-6.70.843.7
Garda Siochana27.9428.2328.2629.3128.1529.7029.31-0.39-1.31.164.1
Education39.3738.0837.8438.1237.6339.5239.32-0.20-0.51.694.5
Regional bodies24.0623.2923.4723.5023.5022.9423.230.291.3-0.27-1.1
Health26.5625.4125.3025.2225.2225.6525.770.120.50.552.2
Semi-state27.8727.2727.2927.4828.0828.4328.32-0.11-0.40.240.9
Total public sector 29.1828.2628.2928.2528.2328.9428.970.030.10.742.6
Total public sector excluding semi-state bodies29.4028.4328.4728.3928.2629.0329.080.050.20.822.9
Semi-state by sub-sector           
Non Commercial Semi-state bodies30.5229.1028.3128.7227.8428.3128.08-0.23-0.80.240.9
Commercial Semi-state bodies27.1726.7826.9427.0728.1628.4728.41-0.06-0.20.250.9
* Preliminary Estimates
Table 8c Average weekly paid hours by public sector sub-sector and quarter
Public sector sub-sector2012201320142015201620172017Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q4Q4Q4Q4Q4Q3Q4*
 hourshourshourshourshourshourshourshours%hours%
Civil service34.636.336.336.436.436.236.70.51.40.30.8
Defence35.836.035.735.635.535.535.70.20.60.20.6
Garda Siochana40.940.140.441.943.344.544.0-0.5-1.10.71.6
Education23.824.224.224.524.624.524.5---0.1-0.4
Regional bodies34.635.735.535.535.435.735.5-0.2-0.60.10.3
Health33.033.534.435.434.434.734.80.10.30.41.2
Semi-state36.036.536.236.436.836.537.10.61.60.30.8
Total public sector 31.632.132.232.832.632.632.70.10.30.10.3
Total public sector excluding semi-state bodies30.931.531.632.331.932.032.0--0.10.3
Semi-state by sub-sector           
Non Commercial Semi-state bodies33.835.034.033.235.034.535.40.92.60.41.1
Commercial Semi-state bodies36.636.937.037.537.537.337.70.41.10.20.5
* Preliminary Estimates
Table 8d Average hourly earnings excluding irregular earnings by public sector sub-sector and quarter¹
Public sector sub-sector2012201320142015201620172017Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q4Q4Q4Q4Q4Q3Q4*
 %%
Civil service26.4625.0024.9724.9324.4324.4824.850.371.50.421.7
Defence22.4723.8921.8921.9321.8622.8522.960.110.51.105.0
Garda Siochana24.7524.9024.9325.0524.7825.5825.700.120.50.923.7
Education38.6837.5337.2737.5937.0939.1138.76-0.35-0.91.674.5
Regional bodies23.2722.4122.6522.7422.7522.2722.450.180.8-0.30-1.3
Health24.9324.0323.9523.8723.8624.2524.350.100.40.492.1
Semi-state25.8925.6825.8026.0126.4026.9226.89-0.03-0.10.491.9
Total public sector 27.8627.1227.1427.0927.0727.7627.820.060.20.752.8
Total public sector excluding semi-state bodies28.2127.3727.3927.2927.2027.9127.980.070.30.782.9
Semi-state by sub-sector           
Non Commercial Semi-state bodies30.1728.7427.9528.1127.4027.7427.67-0.07-0.30.271.0
Commercial Semi-state bodies24.7724.8625.0725.3226.0726.6526.61-0.04-0.20.542.1
¹ To calculate average hourly irregular earnings subtract values in Table 8d from Table 8b.
* Preliminary Estimates
Table 8e Public sector employment by sub-sector and quarter¹
Public sector sub-sector201220132014201520162017Annual change
Q4Q4Q4Q4Q4Q3Q4*
         %
Civil service39,40038,90038,20038,10039,90040,50041,20013003.3
Defence9,6009,7009,8009,5009,5009,4009,400-100-1.1
Garda Siochana13,40013,00012,80012,80013,20013,70013,8006004.5
Education111,300111,000110,800111,300112,000111,300113,80018001.6
Regional bodies34,00033,00032,20032,90033,10033,40033,5004001.2
Health123,200122,000118,600122,200125,600129,700129,90043003.4
Semi-state50,90048,90051,70052,80053,10054,40054,50014002.6
Total public sector381,800376,500374,000379,600386,300392,300396,10098002.5
Total public sector excluding semi- state bodies330,900327,700322,300326,800333,300337,900341,60083002.5
Semi-state by sub-sector         
Non Commercial Semi-state bodies10,0009,60012,40012,10012,50012,90013,0005004.0
Commercial Semi-state bodies40,90039,20039,30040,70040,60041,50041,5009002.2
¹ Source: Earnings, Hours and Employment Costs Survey. Public Sector employment includes all those who received a payment which would include both full-time and part-time employees as well as contract workers. Total public sector numbers are also published by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on a quarterly basis. Those differ in coverage from the estimates in the above table as Department of Public Expenditure and Reform estimates are based on full-time equivalents which will change over time based on both changes in working hours and number of persons employed.
* Preliminary Estimates
Table A1 Estimates of average weekly earnings by broad occupational categories1
Occupation by NACE groups201520162017Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q3Q3Q2Q3
              % %
Managers, professionals and associated professionals
B-E1,448.621,494.941,515.811,497.52-1.20.2
B-N, R-S1,281.911,298.461,324.801,317.26-0.61.4
O-Q1,097.911,155.751,164.511,188.922.12.9
Total (B-S)1,184.031,213.261,229.401,238.360.72.1
Clerical, sales and service employees
B-E762.71770.36773.41780.030.91.3
B-N, R-S453.36473.03481.58482.850.32.1
O-Q543.31547.08561.54561.610.02.7
Total (B-S)467.08482.22493.14494.120.22.5
Production, transport, craft and other manual workers
B-E701.93713.65724.16718.52-0.80.7
B-N, R-S505.55526.81538.30542.930.93.1
O-Q419.84448.58465.63477.922.66.5
Total (B-S)489.61502.89515.36521.081.13.6
1 These estimates have been generated using a sub sample of EHECS respondents and therefore caution is advised when interpreting these results. See background notes.
Table A2 Response rates in selected sectors by quarter1
NACE Principal ActivityEmployer Response Rate % Respondent Enterprises Final Q3 2017 Respondent Enterprises Preliminary Q4 2017  Employee Response Rate %
Final Q3 2016Preliminary Q3 2017 Final Q3 2017Preliminary Q4 2017Final Q3 2016Preliminary Q3 2017 Final Q3 2017Preliminary Q4 2017
B-EIndustry64.854.4 63.953.2 720 609 82.974.6 84.174.5
FConstruction38.936.0 43.934.6 145 118 62.656.3 61.858.2
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles64.654.7 65.853.9 902 754 79.163.8 82.573.8
HTransportation and storage52.546.3 56.348.6 157 138 87.383.9 89.584.5
IAccommodation and food services54.442.1 54.946.9 486 421 73.659.7 73.265.4
JInformation and communication67.558.1 69.858.6 261 221 86.276.6 88.868.7
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate72.662.5 67.461.5 229 214 95.589.4 92.986.6
MProfessional, scientific and technical activites61.752.2 61.050.7 289 248 82.373.9 80.273.6
NAdministrative and support service activities58.850.5 60.651.6 307 254 84.776.2 85.169.7
OPublic administration and defence92.489.4 94.789.5 125 119 99.098.1 99.791.8
PEducation71.568.6 75.466.0 178 159 95.087.6 93.988.5
QHuman health and social work73.466.6 75.563.9 562 479 92.989.5 94.487.1
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities59.651.6 62.350.5 256 215 81.964.7 81.864.9
Total 63.154.2 64.053.9 4,617 3,949 87.078.9 87.778.7
1 This table presents the response rates achieved by sector. Greater caution should be taken in the interpretation of estimates for sectors with lower response rates as these sectors could be subject to greater revisions if response levels are increased for final estimates.
Table A3 Preliminary data versus final data1
NACE Principal ActivityPreliminary Q3 2017 Final Q3 2017 Percentage Change
Average weekly earningsAverage hourly earningsAverage weekly hoursAverage weekly earningsAverage hourly earningsAverage weekly hoursAverage weekly earningsAverage hourly earningsAverage weekly hours
B-EIndustry850.1022.3038.1 855.5222.4538.1 0.60.7-
FConstruction738.7619.8537.2741.2419.8637.30.30.10.3
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles553.1317.6231.4553.3317.6431.4-0.1-
HTransportation and storage777.8821.5036.2775.4321.3036.4-0.3-0.90.6
IAccommodation and food services344.0812.6427.2343.1812.5527.3-0.3-0.70.4
JInformation and communication1,078.6429.5536.51,081.6129.7636.30.30.7-0.5
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate1,001.0028.9034.61,006.1429.1434.50.50.8-0.3
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities881.1625.8934.0879.3125.9333.9-0.20.2-0.3
NAdministrative and support service553.1017.6931.3544.5117.5031.1-1.6-1.1-0.6
OPublic administration and defence940.2325.6536.7940.4225.6436.7---
PEducation830.0834.7023.9830.4334.9223.8-0.6-0.4
QHuman health and social work701.8322.6331.0701.0922.6331.0-0.1--
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities457.7516.2428.2459.4616.2728.20.40.2-
Total 714.4122.0432.4717.5722.1532.40.40.5-
Public/Private Sector           
Private sector652.5120.1832.3654.4520.2432.30.30.3-
Public sector942.5528.8232.7943.3328.9432.60.10.4-0.3
Size of Enterprise           
Less than 50 employees557.9218.2230.6557.8918.3130.5-0.5-0.3
50-250 employees654.0119.9732.7658.6119.9833.00.70.10.9
Greater than 250 employees853.1325.3933.6854.3325.4733.50.10.3-0.3
1 See background notes.

Background Notes

Introduction

The Earnings, Hours and Employment Costs Survey (EHECS) replaced the four-yearly Labour Costs Survey, and also replaced all other CSO short-term earnings inquiries. The EHECS results are comparable across sectors and include more detail on components of earnings and labour costs than was previously available.

Legislation  

The survey information is collected by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) under the S.I. No 140 of 2013 Statistics (Labour Costs Surveys) Order 2013. The information collected is treated as strictly confidential in accordance with the Statistics Act 1993. The survey results meet the requirements for Labour Costs statistics set out in Council Regulation (EC) 530/1999.

Business Register 

The CSO’s Business Register provides the register of relevant enterprises for the survey. An enterprise is defined as the smallest legally independent unit.

Business Classification

The business classification used for the EHECS is based on the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE Rev.2). The NACE code of each enterprise included in the survey was determined from the predominant activity of the enterprise, based on information provided in this or other CSO inquiries.

Nace Classification

NACE Rev.2 is the latest classification system for economic activities, updated from NACE Rev 1.1. A major revision of NACE was conducted between 2000 and 2007, in order to ensure that the NACE classification system remained relevant for the economy. The main changes that affected the release were the reclassification of some industrial enterprises from industry to services (principally in the software and publishing sectors) and the inclusion of air conditioning supply, sewerage, water management and remediation activities in industry. See web link to NACE coder.

http://www.cso.ie/px/u/NACECoder/NACE Items/search nace.asp

Coverage

The survey results relate to enterprises in the Nace Rev 2 Sections B–E (Industry), F (Construction), G (Wholesale & retail trade: repair of motor vehicles & motorcycles), H (Transportation & storage), I (Accommodation & food services activities), J (Information & communication), K-L (Financial, insurance & real estate activities), M (Professional, scientific & technical activities), N (Administrative & support services activities), O (Public administration & defence), P (Education), Q (Human health & social work activities) and R-S (Arts, entertainment, recreation & other service activities) with 3 or more employees. The data was collected at the enterprise level.

NACE Rev.2 Sections A (Agriculture, forestry and fishing), T (Activities of households as employers) and U (Activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies) are not covered in the survey as most employment in these sectors is not enterprise based.

All enterprises with 50 or more employees and a sample of those with 3 to 49 employees are surveyed each quarter. The sample is based on the proportion of companies in each NACE 2 digit economic sectors in the 3 to 49 size classes (3 to 9, 10 to 19 and 20 to 49).

Earnings in the public sector are calculated before the deduction of the pension levy that was introduced in March 2009.

Quarters 1 and 2 of 2011 and 2016 include temporary Census field staff in all outputs. Due to the large numbers involved a table is published which illustrates the effects of the field staff on earnings, hours and employment.

Data Collection

The survey is conducted by post and questionnaires are issued in the last week of the relevant quarter. Some returns are received electronically. All returns are scrutinised for accuracy. Where appropriate, firms are queried by telephone, email or post regarding incompleteness, apparent inconsistencies, etc. Information about the survey is on the CSO website and all questionnaires and instructions are available electronically there.

Differences with discontinued sources

The 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:

The 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 the EHECS.  Data on earnings per hour was presented on the basis of hours paid (including paid leave) in the QII.
  • The 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”.
  • The EHECS collects data for enterprises while the QII collected data for local units.
  • Data on hours is collected for all categories of employees in the 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 the 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 the 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. In the EHECS employment data is collected with regard to the first and last day of the quarter.

Definitions

Registered Employment:

Registered employment refers to the employment of respondent enterprises at the end of the reference quarter. For non-respondent enterprises and enterprises not in the sample, registered employment refers to the employment from the Business Register. The Business Register base enterprise employment on data from the latest revenue P35 files. The Business Register has a lag of between 12 and 18 months between the current quarter and the latest revenue P35 file. For this reason the Business Register is not a suitable measure of short term trends in employment. Thus, sectoral registered employment is adjusted to reflect the trends of the QNHS sectoral employment. The QNHS is designed to measure short term changes in employment. 

Average Employment

For respondent enterprises average employment refers to the average of the quarters opening employment and closing employment. This variable is used as the denominator in calculating average earnings per person and average paid hours per person.

All Employees

All persons who have a direct employment contract with an enterprise as employees, who receive wages or salaries. Persons not working for salary e.g. family members, directors, partners, outside pieceworker’s, etc. are not considered employees but other persons engaged. These workers are included separately but not used in the calculation of derived variables. All employment figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.

Full-time Employees

Employees whose regular working hours are the same as the collectively agreed or customary hours worked in the enterprise, irrespective of the duration of the employment contract. Full-time employment often comes with benefits that are not typically offered to part-time, temporary, or flexible workers, such as annual leave, sick leave, and health insurance.

Part-time Employees

Employees whose regular working hours are less than the collectively agreed or customary hours worked in the enterprise. The definition of part-time varies from enterprise to enterprise but in general part-time employees work 80% or less of the regular hours of the enterprise. 

Apprentices/Trainees

All persons, both full-time or part-time, whose wages or salaries are governed by the fact that they work either under an apprenticeship contract or as part of a training program. 

Category of employees by occupation

For some enterprises information was collected separately for three occupational groups. The three groups are:

1. Managers, Administrators, Professionals and Associate Professionals.

2. Clerical, Sales and Service workers.

3. Production, Transport workers, Craft & Tradespersons and other Manual workers.

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.

- Total earnings: total of regular earnings, overtime earnings and irregular earnings.

Other Labour Costs

Other labour costs are costs to the employer, in addition to wages and salaries, of employing labour. They include the below categories:

- Statutory social contributions: statutory employers’ PRSI including the social security contributions for apprentices/trainees.

- Non-statutory social contributions: payments made by enterprises on behalf of their employees which include pension fund contributions, life assurance premiums, income continuance insurance as well as other employee related payments.

- Other expenses: other employee related payments e.g. study grants, etc.

- Benefits in kind (BIK); net cost of all goods and services made available to employees by the employer. For example, payments for private use of company cars, stock options & share purchase schemes, voluntary sickness insurance, staff housing and other free or subsidised benefits (e.g. canteen facilities, childcare provision, health costs). BIK is included as earnings by Eurostat for the Labour Costs Survey and the Labour Costs Index.

- Redundancy payments.

- Subsidies and refunds: amounts received by enterprises intended to refund part or all of the cost of wages and salaries and training costs. These may include training subsidies from SOLAS or Job Bridge as well as refunds from the Department of Social Protection (DSP) for sick and maternity leave. These are deducted from the firms’ labour costs in the analysis.

Paid 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.

Job Vacancies

Respondents are asked to provide the number of job vacancies in their firm as at the last working day of the quarter. A job vacancy is defined as a newly created post, an unoccupied post or post about to become vacant in the near future, where the employer is actively looking for (i.e. advertising, contacting employment agencies, etc.) and willing to recruit a suitable candidate immediately or very soon. The posts must be open to external candidates, although it may be filled by an internal candidate. Due to one off recruitments by individual firms and a low number of firms reporting vacancies, the job vacancies series can be volatile and should be interpreted with caution.  Job vacancy information is collected by the Central Statistics Office under EU regulation (EC) No. 453/2008. For more information on job vacancies please see the link below.

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/labour-market/job-vacancies

Job Vacancy Rate

The job vacancy rate (JVR) measures the proportion of total posts that are vacant, according to the definition of job vacancy above, expressed as a percentage as follows

Job Vacancy Rate = ( Number of job vacancies / Number of occupied jobs + Number of job vacancies ) * 100

National Minimum Wage (NMW)

The National Minimum Wage Act 2000 became law on the 1st April 2000. Enterprises are asked to indicate the number of employees in receipt of the NMW at the end of each quarter. A detailed guide to the Act is available from the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at www.djei.ie. Employees earning less than the minimum wage due to age or training status are also included. These rates do not apply to close relatives of the employer or apprentices other than apprentice hairdressers.

Derived Variables

Employment

The sum of full-time employees and part-time employees on the last day of the quarter plus the average number of apprentices engaged during the quarter.

Average Weekly Earnings 

Total earnings for the quarter divided by the average number of persons employed during the quarter divided by 13  (number of weeks in a quarter).

Average Hourly Earnings

The sum of regular earnings, irregular earnings, and overtime earnings for the quarter divided by total paid hours for the quarter.

Average Hourly Irregular Earnings

Total irregular earnings in the quarter divided by total paid hours for the quarter.

Average Weekly Paid Hours

Total paid hours for the quarter divided by the average number of persons employed during the quarter divided by 13 (number of weeks in a quarter).  Unpaid hours worked (including unpaid overtime) and unpaid leave are excluded.

Average Hourly Other Labour Costs

The sum of other labour costs divided by total paid hours for the quarter. Other labour costs include redundancy payments, employers’ contributions to social security, other social costs, benefit in kind and other labour costs.  Subsidies and refunds received were deducted.

Average Hourly Total Labour Costs

Hourly labour costs are total labour costs divided by the total number of hours paid during the quarter.

Annual Data

Annualised results are available as a separate release, details of which are available on the CSO website.  

http://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/elca/earningsandlabourcostsannualdata2015/

Methodology for production of quarterly results

Production of EHECS Data

All enterprises with 50 or more employees are surveyed quarterly as well as a sample of enterprises which have between 3 and 49 employees inclusive. For enterprises with 3 to 49 employees inclusive, a weighting factor (the reciprocal of the sampling fraction) is used to weight the estimates to the total population for both employees and enterprises. The CSO's Business Register forms the basis of the sampling frame used for weighting the sample data to the population. Decay factors are calculated for each size class and sector to adjust the non-sampled element of the register for the respondent non-relevant enterprises.

Imputation is carried out for non-respondents in the greater than 50 employees’ categories. Where an enterprise responded in the previous quarter ratio-imputation is used to estimate figures for the current quarter. For enterprises that did not respond in the previous four quarters a stratum average imputation method is used to estimate the missing variables. These estimates are based on respondent enterprises of a similar size and activity.

After imputation, all enterprises with 50 or more employees are accounted for and included in the final dataset. All enterprises employing between 3 and 49 employees are allocated grossing factors to represent the entire population for their relevant industry sector and size class in the quarter. All enterprises' data are contained in the final quarterly dataset which is tabulated to produce the aggregates which are published in the Earnings and Labour Costs quarterly release.

Interpretation of Results

The series presented in this release and all estimates deriving from the EHECS survey are primarily of use as an indicator of trends in average earnings across different classifications. However, in interpreting the trends and in undertaking direct comparison of the average level of earnings across sectors, some caution in interpretation is warranted. For example, the results presented here are based on raw earnings levels. To get a true picture of differences in earnings levels of different employees, comparisons should take account of differences in the characteristics of employees, such as length of service, educational attainment level, nature of work, etc., none of which are available via EHECS. The additional information available from the National Employment Survey (NES) allows for a more detailed analysis of differences in earnings levels and should be referred to by users seeking more detailed information on earnings determinants than is available from EHECS.

It should be noted that all earnings are gross amounts before deductions for PRSI, tax and other levies. This is particularly relevant to the public sector since March 2009 when the pension levy was introduced.

Changes in the composition of employees in a given sector or group has an effect on the average levels of earnings and paid hours over time.  For example, if the proportion of part-time employees increases within a sector then it would be expected that the average weekly earnings and paid hours would fall in that sector even if the hourly pay rates were unchanged. Similarly if the contracted weekly paid hours for a sector increased, this would have no effect on average weekly earnings but would reduce the average hourly earnings of the sector.

Estimated averages do not reflect differences in characteristics of the job or the employees, and since EHECS collects aggregate data from each enterprise it is not possible to correct for such differences using EHECS data.

Seasonal Adjustment

To correct for typical seasonal patterns, the series presented in Table 4 have been seasonally adjusted. Since Quarter 1 2015 seasonal adjustment of earnings and labour costs data is completed by applying the X-13-ARIMA model, developed by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Seasonal adjustment is conducted using the direct approach, where each individual series (average weekly earnings, average weekly paid hours, average hourly earnings, average hourly irregular earnings, average hourly other labour costs and average hourly total labour costs) is independently adjusted for each sector.

As a result of the direct seasonal adjustment approach employed, it should be noted that the sum of any component series may not be equal to seasonally adjusted series to which these components belong. For example, the seasonally adjusted average hourly earnings and seasonally adjusted other labour costs will not necessarily add up to the seasonally adjusted average total labour costs.

The X-13 ARIMA method has the X-11 moving averages process at its core, but builds on this by providing options for pre-treating the series using a regARIMA approach for prior adjustment and series extension. In essence this methodology will estimate seasonal factors while taking account of calendar effects (e.g timing of Easter), outliers, temporary changes and level shifts.

All earnings series are updated quarterly with the entire seasonally adjusted series from Q1 2008 as part of the concurrent approach. A comprehensive review of the seasonal adjustment specification is carried annually where revisions to the entire series are made. Revisions to the series are typically very minor in scale.

Occupational Category Estimates

From Q2 2010 a sub-sample of EHECS respondents has been used to generate earnings and hours estimates by three broad occupational categories.

Results are derived by utilising a matched sample of enterprises between consecutive quarters to generate quarterly updates to the previous quarters earnings. An estimated series is included in table A1. Given the number of enterprises involved it is only possible to produce reliable estimates when the sectors are grouped. Earnings for the broad occupational groups are therefore presented by the following amalgamations:

  • B-E                  Industry
  • B-N/R-S           All NACE sectors from Industry to Administrative and support service activities inclusive, plus Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities
  • O-Q                 All NACE sectors from Public administration and defence to Human health and social work activities, inclusive
  • B-S                  All NACE sectors

Review of Preliminary Versus Final Data

A detailed review of preliminary estimates and final data was undertaken to ascertain the extent of change between both sets of results.  The review focused on response rates, scale of revision at NACE sectoral level and significant changes in trends.  The findings of the review indicate that the preliminary figures can be accepted as a suitable indicator for quarterly trends. Analysis of the results for individual NACE sectors highlighted that the change from preliminary to final data was broadly in the range of plus or minus 5%. However, as response rates can impact on the quality of data at the sectoral level, it is advisable to be aware of this when interpreting preliminary results. In the quarterly release table A3 contains the differences between preliminary and final data for the most recent reported quarter, while table A2 highlights response rates.

Labour Cost Index (LCI)

Results of EHECS are compiled and transmitted to Eurostat for inclusion in the Labour Cost Index. The quarterly Labour Cost Index (LCI) shows the short-term development of the total hourly costs incurred by the employers of maintaining their employees. In other words, the LCI measures the costs arising from the production factor 'labour'. The LCI covers the economic activities of industry and services (including public administration). The reference year of the index is 2008. The labour cost index data is collected by EU Member States and is transmitted to Eurostat. In addition to the index numbers, Eurostat provides annual and quarterly growth rates of labour cost. Further labour cost index information and data is available through the Eurostat website:

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/labour-market/labour-costs/database

Public Sector Employment

There are two CSO surveys which can potentially provide information on public sector employment. The Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) can provide estimates based on all respondents who are in employment being asked whether they work in the public sector or not. The EHECS, which is the source of the quarterly Earnings and Labour Costs data, provides estimates based on responses from the employer. Specifically in the case of EHECS there is a response level of close to 80% for public sector employers over time.

Based on the higher response levels and lower levels of subjectivity associated with EHECS the CSO believes it offers a more reliable source for public sector number estimates over time and the CSO publishes data from EHECS as the primary series on public sector numbers. Table 8e contains the estimates of public sector numbers broken down by the different high level areas within the public sector.

Public Sector Organisations

Public sector organisations consists of the following:

  • Civil Service
  • Defence
  • Garda Síochána
  • Education
  • Regional bodies
  • Health
  • Semi State, both commercial and non-commercial

Financial Crisis Related Bodies

Nationalised banks are in temporary public ownership resulting from the financial crisis, their employment and earnings data are excluded from Public Sector earnings and employment figures, this is in order to maintain the stability of the series. Their data is reflected in the appropriate NACE sector.

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