ESRI warns public sector pay rises could damage economy
31/01/2006 - 07:28:46Ireland's leading economic think-tank has warned that public sector pay rises could threaten the country's future competitiveness.
In its latest quarterly commentary, the Economic and Social Research Institute says any pay increases in the public sector should be limited in upcoming social partnership talks.
Public sector pay has been rising much faster than that in the private sector in recent years and the ESRI is warning that taxes will have to go up to fund any further increases.
This, in turn, would damage Irish economic competitiveness on the global stage.
Elsewhere, the ESRI has predicted economic growth of just under 5% for this year and the creation of 63,000 new jobs - a slight reduction on the figure for 2005.
