Public sector pay 40% higher than in private sector
Employees in the public sector earn 40% more than their private sector counterparts, according to a national employment survey by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
In the public sector, workers earned an average of €21.04 per hour, which was 40% above the average of €15.03 for the private sector. More than half of public sector workers are in professional or technical occupations, compared with about one in eight workers in the private sector.
The national employment survey is based on earnings data provided by employers and individual data collected directly by the CSO from a sample of employees. The survey will be conducted annually from this year to provide comparable annual results.
The first set of results - which relate to 2003 - show workers earned an average of €16.41 per hour in March 2003. The study also showed the average working week was 33 hours. Men worked an average of 36.2 hours and women 29.4 hours per week.
The average employee has been working for just over 15 years and has spent about eight and a half years in his/her current job.
Within the private sector, large enterprises paid about 50% more per hour than small businesses. Companies employing 500 or more people paid an average of over €18 per hour, compared with about €13 per hour for those employing less than 50 people.
