Source: CSO

Hourly earnings including irregular bonuses fell by 11.1% (€34.17 to €30.37 per hour) in the Irish  financial sector in the year to Q1 2009. This was due to a fall of 65.1% in irregular earnings which fell from €8.00 per hour in Q1 2008 to €2.79 in Q1 2009. Hourly earnings excluding irregular bonuses rose from €26.17 to €27.58 per hour or a rise of 5.4%.

The CSO said today that in the industrial sector hourly earnings including irregular bonuses rose 5.9% from €20.82 to €22.05 per hour to Q1 2009. Irregular earnings fell slightly from €1.55 per hour to €1.51 while earnings excluding irregular bonuses rose 6.5% from €19.28 per hour in Q1 2008 to €20.54 in Q1 2009.

Employment falls in the industrial sector by 15,700 in the year

The number of persons employed in the industrial sector fell by 15,700 from 231,100 to 215,400 employees between Q1 2008 and Q1 2009. This decrease was primarily among the production and manual workers. During the same period employment in the financial sector grew by 1,100 from 83,200 to 84,300 employees.

Average weekly paid hours fall over the year

The average weekly paid hours in industry decreased by 0.9 hours a week, from 37.5 hours to 36.6 hours from Q1 2008 to Q1 2009, a drop of 2.4%. The financial sector hours also fell, from 33.8 hours to 33.2 hours over the same period (a drop of 1.8%).