Average weekly earnings increased by 3.7% during pandemic, says hesitant CSO
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The average weekly earnings of Irish workers increased by nearly 4% on an annual basis in the third quarter of the year, according to preliminary estimates from the CSO.
However, the increase was masked by Covid impacts such as a number of workers on below-average pay switching to the pandemic unemployment payment and the introduction of the Government's wage subsidy schemes.
There were also significant changes in employment in certain sectors, as well as a marked lack of data available from a number of industries.
The CSO has estimated that average weekly earnings stood at €797.83 in the three months between the start of July and the end of September; an increase of 3.7% on the same period in 2019.
That figure includes those benefitting from the temporary wage subsidy scheme and its replacement, the employment wage subsidy scheme, but excludes those who have lost their jobs due to the impact of Covid on the economy and have been receiving the PUP.
So, the predicted increase in average earnings will have been positively impacted by the removal of some below-average-paid jobs from the workforce.
The CSO has also warned about the accuracy of the latest earnings estimates, saying they could be out by up to 5% either way.
It said the pandemic negatively impacted on its latest research, with a lower-than-usual response rate to its survey.
It said firms in the construction, accommodation, and food services sectors were particularly hampered in their ability to submit returns or accurately record payments under the TWSS.
“The composition of the labour market in the third quarter of this year was very different to the composition of the labour market in previous quarters … with significantly fewer employments in certain sectors in the third quarter of this year,” said CSO statistician Louise Egan.
Recent CSO data showed the Covid-adjusted unemployment rate increased to 20.2% in October.
IT workers were the highest paid in the third quarter, with those working in transportation and storage seeing the biggest annual earnings fall. On a rolling quarterly basis, the CSO said average weekly earnings fell by 2.4%.