AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS for workers in Ireland stood at €696.59 in the first three months of this year, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

This figure compares to the weekly earnings of €691.74 in the last quarter of 2012. The average hourly earnings for the first three months of 2013 were set at €22.31, representing a very slight increase of 0.7 per cent over the year though the average weekly paid hours fell slightly to 31.2.

The largest percentage increase in earnings per week was in the administrative and support services sector, up 3.3 per cent to €507.42. Construction workers fared the worst seeing a drop of 13.5 per cent in weekly earnings to €651.98 – below the national average.

Businesses with less than 50 employees showed an annual increase of 0.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2013, from €17.73 to €17.84, while enterprises with greater than 250 employees recorded an increase of 1.9 per cent, from €25.63 to €26.12 in average hourly earnings, over the same period.

Firms with between 50 and 250 employees showed no real change over the same period from €20.52 to €20.53.

There is an estimated 383,500 public sector workers, a decrease of 5,000 or 1.3 per cent from the first quarter of last year. The largest decrease was in the health sector and the largest increase was in education.

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