Source: CSO

Average Irish weekly earnings fell to €716.09 in Q4 2009, down from €720.57 a year earlier representing a fall of 0.6% over the year. This compares with a revised estimated decrease of 0.3% in the year to Q3 2009. Jobs fell in production, transport, craft and other manual workers occupational category fell by 15.1%.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) reported that the fall in weekly earnings reflects the decrease in paid hours (-1.5% over the year to Q4 2009) while average hourly earnings increased by 0.9% year on year.  Across the economic sectors average weekly earnings fell in 9 of the 13 sectors with the largest decreases in the Transportation and storage (-8.7%) and Information and communication (-7.1%) sectors.

Weekly earnings in the private sector fell by 2.1% compared with a rise of 0.6% in the public sector. Earnings in the latter are, however calculated before deduction of the pension levy that was introduced in March 2009.

The weekly earnings of Production, transport, craft and other manual workers fell by 4.1% in the year to Q4 2009. Relatively lower decreases were recorded for the Clerical, sales and service employees and Managers, professionals and associated professionals occupational groups (-0.7% and -0.8% respectively).

Greater levels of decrease were recorded in smaller enterprises with a fall of 5.2% over the year for enterprises with less than 50 employees compared with a fall of 1.1% for enterprises with between 50 and 250 employees while an increase of 1.4% was recorded for enterprises with more than 250 employees

Earnings figures are gross amounts before deductions for PRSI, tax and other levies such as the pension levy. In addition to underlying trends in pay rates and working patterns, changes in average earnings and paid hours are influenced by changes in the composition of the workforce.

Average weekly paid hours fell to 32.0 in Q4 2009, a fall of 0.5 hours or 1.5% over the year. Decreases in average weekly paid hours were recorded in 11 of the 13 economic sectors with the greatest proportional decreases being recorded in Construction (-4.6%) and Information and communication (-4.2%).

In the private sector average weekly paid hours fell by 2.4% over the year from 32.7 hours to 31.9 hours, while an increase of 1.0% was recorded in average weekly paid hours in the public sector.

Average hourly earnings rose from €22.17 per hour in Q4 2008 to €22.36 in Q4 2009, a rise of 0.9%. Increases in hourly earnings were recorded in 5 of the 13 economic sectors while decreases were recorded in the other 8 sectors. The largest increase in hourly earnings was recorded in Industry (+3.3%) while the largest decrease was recorded in the Transport and storage (-6.3%).

In the private sector hourly earnings increased slightly from €19.72 to €19.74, a rise of 0.1% while the public sector saw a decrease of 0.3% from €29.92 to €29.83.

In the year to Q3 2009 increases of 1.2% and 1.9% were recorded in the private and public sectors respectively. Estimated averages do not reflect differences in characteristics of the job or the employees. EHECS collects aggregate data from each enterprise so it is not possible to correct for such differences using EHECS data. For a more detailed analysis of the difference in public and private sector pay please refer to supplementary analysis of the National Employment Survey 2007.

The occupational groups Managers, professionals and associated professions and Production, transport, craft and other manual workers both saw a decline in hourly earnings of 0.2% and 1.4% respectively while the hourly earnings of Clerical, sales and service employees showed a marginal increase of 0.1% over the year. Irregular earnings decreased in 9 of the 13 economic sectors and fell in the year from €1.12 to €1.04 overall. When irregular earnings are excluded hourly earnings increased in 6 of the 13 sectors and increased overall from €21.05 to €21.32 over the year (+1.3%).

Irregular earnings of employees in the Managers, professionals and associated professionals occupational group fell by 13.2% over the year from €1.90 per hour on average to €1.65. Irregular earnings fell by 11.0% for Clerical, sales and service employees while they increased by 13.5% for workers in the Production, transport, craft and other manual workers occupational group. However, irregular earnings remained the highest for the Managers, professionals and associated professionals group, both as an absolute amount (€1.65 per hour) and as a proportion of overall average hourly earnings (5.0%).

Other labour costs decreased from €3.60 per hour to €3.48 per hour in the year to Q4 2009 (-3.3%). The most notable decrease was seen in the Wholesale and Retail sector where other labour costs decreased from €3.34 to €2.62 per hour (-21.6%).

When other labour costs are added to earnings overall average labour costs increased by 0.3% from €25.77 per hour in Q4 2008 to €25.84 per hour in Q4 2009.

The number of employees in the Production, transport, craft and other manual workers occupational category fell by 15.1% over the year to Q4 2009. Relatively lesser decreases of 6.0% and 6.5% were recorded for the Managers, professionals and associated professionals and Clerical, sales and service employees occupational groups respectively.