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| Source: Davy |
The National Employment Survey 2007, is a major workplace and earnings survey conducted by the Central Statistics Office and the results for 2007 have been published today. Average annual earnings were €37,726 in 2007, this figure was composed of €35,607 basic earnings and €2,120 annual bonuses and BIK (Benefit in Kind). Earnings were highest in the Electricity, gas €71,572 - - mainly the ESB and Bord Gáis. Besides workers in such public services have a five-star pension scheme and they have been allocated shares in their companies. The public/private gap was 48% for average hourly earnings as of October 2007.
Besides the pay gap, the majority of Irish private sector workers have no occupational pension.
The ESRI has conducted research which compares similar jobs in both sectors:
SEE: Irish public sector pay excluding pensions exceeds private sector pay by 10% for top jobs to up to 30% for other grades
The survey provides detailed comparisons on the factors that influence individual employee earnings. The results have been compiled on the basis of earnings data provided by employers and individual data collected directly by the CSO from a sub-sample of employees. The CSO wishes to thank the employers and employees who provided information for the survey.
The results show that:
- Employees earned an average of €20.08 per hour in October 2007. Men earned €21.17 per hour and women earned €18.91 per hour (89.3% of male hourly earnings).
- Half of all employees earned less than €16.29 per hour (i.e. the median hourly earnings figure).
- Average hourly earnings for full-time workers were €21.17 while part-time workers received an average of €15.40 per hour.
- The average working week was 34.4 hours. Men worked an average of 38.0 hours and women 30.7 hours per week.
- Public sector average hourly earnings were 47.6% higher that the private sector in October 2007. Average earnings per hour in the public sector were €26.67 compared to €18.07 per hour in the private sector. Nearly a quarter (24.5%) of private sector employees consisted of Sales and Other occupations (mainly manual labour) compared with only 8.1% of employees in the public sector.
- A profile of educational qualifications in the public and private sectors shows over half (52.8%) of all public sector employees had third-level qualifications, compared with 31.9% in the private sector.
- Public sector workers have spent an average of 11.6 years in their current employment while in the private sector employees have spent an average of 8.2 years in their current employment.
- The average employee has been working for just over 15.1 years and has spent about 9.0 years in his/her current employment.
- Average earnings per hour were highest in the Education sector at €33.23 per hour followed by the Electricity, gas and water supply sector at €30.96. The lowest average hourly earnings were in the Hotels and restaurants sector, at €12.93 per hour.
- Professional employees earned the highest hourly earnings of €33.61 while Sales workers had the lowest earnings at €14.08 per hour.
- Educational qualifications had a strong influence on earnings potential as employees who had a third level degree or higher tended to have higher earnings than other employees and this difference increased with age. Employees aged under 25 years with a third level degree or higher qualification earned €17.57 per hour compared to those with a higher secondary (Leaving Certificate) qualification who earned €12.31 per hour. This gap had widened to €42.21 and €20.97 respectively for employees aged 50 to 60 years.
- Employees living in Dublin earned €22.03 per hour compared with €1 - €3 less for those living in the Rest of Leinster, Munster and Connaught (€20.29, €19.07 and €18.83 respectively). Employees in Ulster (including those living in Northern Ireland and working in the Republic of Ireland) earned €17.59 per hour.
- Average annual earnings were €37,726 in 2007, this figure was composed of €35,607 basic earnings and €2,120 annual bonuses and BIK (Benefit in Kind). Earnings were highest in the Electricity, gas and water supply sector at €71,572 and lowest in the Hotels and restaurants sector at €23,505.
- A comparison of NES results show that earnings per hour rose from €19.16 in October 2006 to €20.08 in October 2007. Hours per week fell slightly from 34.8 hours per week in October 2006 to 34.4 hours in October 2007.
- More analysis of the NES data will be carried out in July 2009 and published thereafter. This analysis will further examine the differences in earnings.
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| Source: CSO |
Davy chief economist Rossa White commented:
Public sector hourly pay exceeds private sector by 48%; gap obvious for same education, experience and occupation
Public sector pay out-of-whack with private pay
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The latest annual National Employment Survey showed that public workers enjoyed a huge hourly premium over their private sector counterparts.
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The gap was 48% for average hourly earnings as of October 2007. There is no evidence to suggest that the chasm has closed since.
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Median earnings were 52% higher in the public jobs.
For the equivalent occupation, education level or experience, the smallest gap is 25% and the largest is 76%
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The gap between public and private pay cannot be justified by saying that public sector employees are more experienced, better educated or do different jobs.
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For example, how can we explain the fact that security personnel in the public sector get paid 46% more than their private sector peers?
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Table 1 above shows that no matter what way the data are cut, the gap is glaring. Looking at the most educated – those with a third-level degree or above – the public sector pay premium is 44%. Those with 20-29 years' experience achieve a wage that is 36% higher in the public service than in the private service.
Upshot is that the public pay bill has not been properly tackled, but there is justification for big cuts
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In February, the first attempt was made to rectify the imbalance. But the public pension levy only matched the wage cuts in the private sector, so the gap has probably not closed. The public pay bill of €20bn in 2009 amounts to more than one-third of voted public expenditure. Further pay cuts of at least 10% are justified by these data.
Annual earnings are 32% higher in the public sector, but hours worked (not bonuses) account for smaller gap compared with hourly earnings
Hourly earnings are 48% on average higher in the public sector. But average annual earnings are 32% higher because public employees work fewer hours.
But it is not the case that bonuses are much higher in the private sector.
In 2002, bonuses (and benefit-in-kind) in the private sector amounted to €1565 (or 5% of average annual earnings) versus only €149 in the public service. Five years on in 2007, bonuses in the public service had almost caught up at €1807 versus €2,211.
