Leadership

Public-sector weekly earnings rise 3.2pc

23.10.2009
The average weekly earnings of employees in the public sector have risen by 3.2pc in the year to June 2009, from €942.81 to €973.09, new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has shown today.

A breakdown of the figures shows that weekly earnings for the civil service rose by 4.7pc (from €889.82 to €931.46) and by 4.3pc for the defence sector (from €799.65 to €834.06).

Meanwhile, average weekly earnings for An Garda Síochána, inclusive of overtime, fell by 3.1pc from €1,247.74 to €1,208.50 per week, although their weekly earnings excluding overtime rose by 0.6pc from €1,093.16 to €1,099.25 for the same period.

Earnings rise 16.1pc over four years
The CSO data also shows that over the four-year period from June 2005 to June 2009, average weekly earnings in the public sector increased by 16.1pc from €838.35 to €973.09.

Regional bodies’ earnings rose by almost one fifth (19.2pc) from €720.92 to €859.70, with employees of semi-state companies seeing their wages rise by 17.8pc (from €898.01 to €1,058.26), while the earnings for An Garda Síochána, inclusive of overtime, rose by 11.6pc.

Public servants working in the education sector saw their income rise by 13pc during this period, with the exception of those working in third level, whose wages rose by 22.8pc from €918.27 to €1,127.68 per week.

Public-sector employment down by 2,700
Meanwhile, the CSO data shows a 2,700 reduction in the number of people employed in the public service in the year to June 2009 when a total of 370,400 people were employed.

This compares to a rise of 3,500 public-sector employees in the year to March 2009.

In the year to June 2009 employment in regional bodies fell from 41,200 to 37,700 - a decrease of 3,500, the CSO said.

In the same period there were 900 fewer people employed in the civil service, where numbers dropped to 38,600 in June 2009.

However, the numbers employed in the education sector increased by 2,200 from 101,600 in June 2008 to 103,800 in June 2009.

Employment in the health sector also rose by 600 from 110,500 in June 2008 to 111,100 over the same period.

Looking across the four years to June 2009, employment in the public sector rose by 21,500 to 370,400.

Education saw the biggest rise, from 90,500 to 103,800, an increase of 13,300.

Distribution of employment
The CSO also said the distribution of employment across the public sector has changed little between June 2005 and June 2009. The largest sector is health at 30pc, closely followed by education at 28pc.

The semi-states, civil service and regional bodies constituted 14pc, 11pc and 10pc respectively of all public-sector employment in June 2009.