One in four Irish employees paid less than living wage; report finds
25% of low paid workers are employed in the wholesale and retail sector, according to a report by the Nevin Economic Research Institute
Print23 March 2015
A quarter of Irish workers currently earn less than the living wage of €11.45 an hour, according to a new study by the Nevin Economic Research Institute.
In total, 345,000 employees receive less than €11.45 per hour, with female staff accounting for 60% of this figure. What’s more, approximately 30% of the Irish workforce earns less than the EU low-pay threshold of €12.20 per hour.
Meanwhile, the average hourly earnings for Irish employees is €20.63, yet half of all employees earn less than €16.62 per hour.
One-quarter of low paid workers are based in the wholesale and retail sector, according to the report, while nearly one-in-six are based in the accommodation and food sector. It also states the agricultural, forestry and fishing sector carries the highest possibility of low pay, with seven out of every 10 employees in this area being low paid.
Within the private sector, 38.8% of employees receive low pay whereas only 10.5% of employees in the public sector. Altogether, 65% of all low-paid employees live in a household where the overall income is below the poverty line.
The Nevin institute’s Dr Tom Healy said that how the issue of low pay is addressed will “influence the continued strength of the economic recovery currently underway”.
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