THE AVERAGE WEEKLY earnings are up so far this year, new figures show.

The figures from the CSO show that average weekly earnings rose from €687.67 to €694.96 between in Q3 2011 and 2012. In the last quarter, Q2, earnings increased by 0.5 per cent.

The average weekly working paid hours fell to 31.6 in Q3 this year, which was a slight decrease of 0.9 per cent over the year.

When it came to public sector workers, the numbers stood at 377,900 in Q3 2012, which was a fall of -4.1 per cent (16,200) from the same period last year.

Sectors

Average weekly earnings increased in 8 of the 13 sectors in the year to Q3 2012, with the largest percentage increase in the professional, scientific and technical sector (+8.4 per cent). The largest percentage sectoral decrease in weekly earnings was recorded in the accommodation and food services sector, which was -5.1 per cent.

This quarter was the third successive one where there was a slight increase in average weekly earnings. In the past four years, some sectors have shown changes, such as  the arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities sector, which saw a drop 0f -12.2 per cent, while the financial, insurance and real estate sector was up +5.1 per cent.

Weekly earnings in the private sector rose by 1.6 per cent annually, compared with an increase of 0.9 per cent in the public sector (including semi-state organisations) over the year. This brings average weekly earnings in Q3 2012 to €617.94 and €925.51 respectively.

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Hourly earnings

Meanwhile, the average hourly earnings increased to €22.00 between this period in 2012 to last year, which was a rise of €0.42 (+1.9 per cent). Where did we see the largest percentage increases? The largest increase was in construction (+8.8 per cent), followed by the professional, scientific and technical sector (+4.6 per cent).

The largest sectoral percentage decrease was recorded in the arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities sector, which was -2.9 per cent.

Read: Disposable income and household savings up in second quarter>