Public service pay 50pc above private sector
'The public sector pension levy only matched the wage cuts in the private sector, so the gap has probably not closed'
PUBLIC sector workers earn almost 50pc more than private sector workers, new figures show.
Civil servants and public servants earned an average of almost €27 an hour in 2007 compared with €18 an hour for private workers -- a difference of 47pc -- according to the CSO National Employment Survey.
Davy economist Rossa White said the new figures indicated there should be a 10pc cut in public sector pay. "The public sector pension levy only matched the wage cuts in the private sector, so the gap has probably not closed," he said.
The figures from the Central Statistics Office survey showed that workers in the public service tended to be better-qualified, with 53pc holding a third-level qualification compared with 32pc in the private workforce.
This could explain some of the difference as earnings were closely influenced by educational attainment for all workers. However, economists at Davy Research said it could not explain all of the difference.
"For example, how can we explain the fact that security personnel in the public sector get paid 45pc more than their private sector peers?" Mr White asked.
However, a study by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) in 2008 found that, allowing for differences in age and qualifications, public sector pay appeared to exceed comparable private sector pay by 10pc for top jobs and by up to 30pc for other grades. None of the comparisons included the value of generous public sector pensions.
Longer
Private sector workers also worked longer hours, clocking up 35 hours per week to earn €639 on average, while public sector workers spent 32.7 hours at work and earned €847. The figures also revealed that immigrant workers from the EU accession states earned less than two-thirds of the average hourly rate -- and worked more.
The average wage across the economy was just over €20 an hour, but in reality two-thirds of people earned less than this amount, as the figure was skewed upwards due to higher earnings for some employees.
Workers in the education sector were the highest paid at €33 an hour, closely followed by those in public utilities, such as gas and electricity supply, at €31 an hour.
Women earned less than men in every sector of the economy, or just 89pc of male earnings on average, with the difference smallest in the public sector at 93pc and biggest in financial services where they earned just 73pc as much as male workers.
Part-time workers earned €6 per hour less than full-time workers on average, €15 per hour compared with €21.
On average men earned €793 per week while women earned just €576.
The average working week was 34 hours, but this ranged from 38 hours for men to 31 hours for women.
Sales workers were the worst paid with half of them earning less than €11.20 an hour. Although this report relates to 2007, other CSO data shows that hourly labour costs rose by around 4.5pc in industry and the banks in 2008, while public sector earnings rose 3.4pc in the year to March 2009.
- Aideen Sheehan
