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For more information on this release:
E-mail: earnings@cso.ie Brian Cahill (+353) 21 4535173 Gerard Brett (+353) 21 4535513 Karen Desmond (+353) 21 4535512
For general information on CSO statistics:
information@cso.ie (+353) 21 453 5000 On-line ISSN 2009-5023
CSO statistical release, , 11am

Earnings and Labour Costs Quarterly

Q1 2016 (Final) Q2 2016 (Preliminary Estimates)

QuarterAverage Weekly EarningsAverage Hourly EarningsAverage Weekly Paid HoursAverage Hourly Total Labour Costs
  € €Hours €
Q2 2015700.6621.8932.025.33
Q1 2016713.4122.5231.726.00
Q2 2016*703.8321.9332.125.32
     
Quarterly change %-1.3 -2.6 +1.3-2.6
Annual change %+0.5+0.2+0.3-
* Preliminary Estimates

Average weekly earnings up 0.5% in year to Q2 2016

Average weekly earnings by economic sector
go to full release

Average weekly earnings were €703.83 in Q2 2016, a rise of 0.5% from €700.66 one year earlier according to preliminary estimates of the Earnings and Labour Costs Quarterly release. Final data for average weekly earnings in Q1 of 2016 were €713.41 and showed an increase of 1.5% over the same period in 2015. See table 1. 

Other features of the preliminary results for Q2 2016 include:

  • Average hourly earnings increased by 0.2% between Q2 2015 and Q2 2016, rising from €21.89 to €21.93. See table 2.
  • Average weekly paid hours were 32.1 in Q2 2016, a 0.3% increase on paid hours in Q2 2015. See table 3.
  • Average hourly total labour costs were €25.32 in the second quarter of 2016, a fall of €0.01 from the value of €25.33 one year previously. See table 6c.
  • Seasonally adjusted average weekly earnings in Q2 2016 were €702.66, a decrease of 0.3% from the previous quarter. See table 4.  
  • Average weekly earnings decreased by 1.2% across the public sector in the year to Q2 2016, falling from €917.24 to €905.97. See table 8a
  • The job vacancy rate at the end of Q2 2016 was 0.9%, the same end of quarter rate as one year earlier. See table 7c.

 

Unadjusted average weekly earnings increase in 9 of the 13 sectors in year to Q2 2016

Average weekly earnings were €703.83 in Q2 2016, this represents average earnings in the Irish economy, however there are large variations in earnings across its sectors. The highest average weekly earnings of €1,063.39 were in the Information and Communication sector, followed by the Financial, insurance and real estate sector at €1,014.66. The lowest average weekly earnings were €331.81 in the Accommodation and food services sector and in Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities sector at €467.77. See table 1 and figure 2.

Average weekly earnings increased in nine of the thirteen sectors in the economy in the year to Q2 2016. The largest percentage increase was 5.0% in the Professional, scientific and technical activities sector, where average weekly earnings rose from €800.41 to €840.39 in the year to Q2 2016. Average weekly earnings rose by 3.9% in the Construction sector between the second quarter of 2015 and 2016, rising from €706.83 to €734.49 while there was an increase of 2.5% in the Financial, insurance and real estate sector, where average weekly earnings in the second quarter of 2016 rose from €990.15 to €1,014.66. See table 1 and figure 2.

The Public administration & defence sector experienced the largest percentage sectoral decrease, falling from €933.00 to €900.88, a drop of 3.4%. This fall is partly due to the recruitment of temporary Census field staff who were on lower than average weekly earnings and weekly paid hours. Excluding temporary Census field staff, the Public administration & defence sector had average weekly earnings of €928.90, a fall of 0.4%. See table 1 and table A4.  

Average weekly earnings in the private sector showed an increase of 1.5% from €635.52 to €644.98 in the year to Q2 2016. There was a decrease in average weekly earnings in the public sector (including semi-state) of 1.2%, from €917.24 to €905.97 over the same time period. When temporary Census field staff are excluded, public sector average weekly earnings decreased 0.3% to €914.58. See table 1 and table A4. 

In the five years up to Q2 2016 average weekly earnings rose by 2.1%, from €689.32 in Q2 2011 to €708.83 five years later. There were large differences in the changes to average weekly earnings across individual sectors over this time period, ranging between -5.6% in Human health & social work sector to + 13.1% in the Information and communications sector. See table 1 and figure 2.

 

 

Revisions: Earnings and Labour Costs data have been revised from Q1 2008 to Q2 2016. These revisions are reflected in both the Earnings and Labour Costs release for Q2 2016 and StatBank tables. The revisions are minor in nature and have been undertaken: to standardise production and reporting methodology between quarterly and annual releases; update weighting processes and update payroll processes. These revisions do not change trends in published Earnings and Labour Costs data.

 

Note: Temporary Census field staff are included in the estimates for Q1 and Q2 2016. The impact of temporary Census field staff on estimates is illustrated in table A4.  
 
 
 

Note: While there is no internationally agreed methodology for assessing the public / private sector wage gap, the CSO has published an analysis of the differential using the National Employment Survey (NES) for 2009 and 2010. This analysis took account of compositional differences between sectors, such as occupational mix, sectors of activity, gender balance, union membership, etc. Using a variety of criteria and assumptions, the public sector pay gap was estimated to range from 6.1% to 18.9% for NES 2010. See analysis here and here.  
 

 

5 year % Change
Information & Comm13.1
Professional & Technical11.1
Admin & Support Service9.7
Transportation8.1
Wholesale & Retail7.5
Industry5.9
Financial & Real Estate4.6
Construction4.1
All Sectors2.1
Accommodation & Food0.7
Public Admin & Defence-0.2
Arts & Entertainment-1.4
Education-4.4
Health & Social-5.6
Total All Sectors K-L Financial, insurance and real estate activities
B-E Industry M Professional, scientific and technical activities
F Construction N Administrative and support service activities
G Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles O Public Administration and defence; compulsory social security
H Transportation and storage P Education
I Accommodation and food service activities Q Human health and social work activities
J Information and communication R-S Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities

 

 

Average hourly earnings increase 0.2% to €21.93 in year to Q2 2016

Average hourly earnings were €21.93 in Q2 2016, the sector with the highest average hourly earnings was the Education sector with €33.90, followed by the Information and communication sector with €29.71. The lowest earning sectors were the Accommodation and food service activities sector with average hourly earnings of €12.47 and the Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities sector with €16.57.

Average hourly earnings increased from €21.89 per hour in Q2 2015 to €21.93 in Q2 2016, representing an increase of 0.2% or €0.04. Average hourly earnings increased 0.9% in the year to Q1 2016 from €22.32 to €22.52 per hour. Seasonally adjusted average hourly earnings showed a decrease of 0.8% in the quarter to Q2 2016, decreasing from €22.05 to €21.88. See table 2, table 4 and figure 3.

 

Unadjusted SeriesAdjusted Series
Q10821.5321.15
Q20821.5121.5
Q30821.2121.66
Q40822.1721.84
Q10922.4422.18
Q20922.0222.12
Q30921.8922.16
Q40922.5222.31
Q11022.2222.11
Q21022.0522.07
Q31021.7922.15
Q41022.1622.14
Q11122.2221.93
Q21121.9222.01
Q31121.621.99
Q41122.0921.99
Q11222.2522
Q21221.9822.03
Q31221.8322.09
Q41221.9221.89
Q11322.2321.97
Q21322.0421.97
Q31321.5222
Q41321.8922
Q11422.3621.89
Q21421.8221.88
Q31421.2121.72
Q41422.0821.91
Q11522.3221.94
Q21521.8921.89
Q31521.5121.86
Q41521.9221.87
Q11622.5222.05
Q21621.9321.88

 

Average hourly earnings increased in 8 of the 13 main sectors in the year to Q2 2016. The Transportation and storage and the Accommodation and food services sectors shared the largest increase in average hourly earnings of 2.5% rising from €20.40 to €20.91 per hour and from €12.17 to €12.47 per hour respectively in the year. The Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities sector saw the largest annual fall in average hourly earnings to Q2 2016, decreasing 3.8% from €17.22 to €16.57 per hour. See table 2, table A4 and figure 4.

Q2 2015Q2 2016
Industry22.0622.24
Construction19.4119.77
Wholesale & Retail17.4217.69
Transportation20.420.91
Accommodation & Food12.1712.47
Information & Comm29.3929.71
Financial & Real Estate28.8828.79
Professional & Technical24.625.06
Admin & Support Service17.1917.06
Public Admin & Defence25.6425.26
Education34.2633.9
Health & Social22.1222.15
Arts & Entertainment17.2216.57
All Sectors21.8921.93

In the five years to Q2 2016 overall average hourly earnings increased by €0.01 from €21.92 to €21.93. Across the sectors over this period average hourly earnings have increased in 8 of the 13 sectors. The largest percentage increase was recorded in the Information and communication sector (+12.7%) rising from €26.37 to €29.71. The largest percentage decrease in average hourly earnings over the same period was recorded in the Human health and social work sector (-6.0%) falling from €23.57 to €22.15.

Enterprises with less than 50 employees showed an annual decrease of 0.4% in average hourly earnings in Q2 2016, from €18.01 to €17.94. Enterprises with between 50 and 250 employees recorded a decrease in average hourly earnings of €0.01, from €20.14 to €20.13 over the same period. Contrastingly enterprises with greater than 250 employees showed an increase of 0.8% in the year to Q2 2016 with values rising from €25.13 to €25.32 in average hourly earnings.

Private sector average hourly earnings rose 0.8% from €19.94 to €20.10 in the year to Q2 2016. Public sector average hourly earnings decreased by 0.4%, from €28.26 to €28.16 in the same period. Excluding temporary Census field staff average hourly earnings increased by 0.2%. 

 

Average weekly paid hours increase 0.3% in the year to Q2 2016

Average weekly paid hours were 32.1 across all economic sectors in the second quarter of 2016. There are large variations in average weekly paid hours with workers in the Industry sector recording the highest number at 38.3 followed by the Construction sector at 37.2. The sectors with the lowest average weekly paid hours were Education at 23.4 and Accommodation and food services at 26.6. See table 3, table 4 and figure 5.

Unadjusted SeriesAdjusted Series
Q10832.732.8
Q20832.932.8
Q30832.932.7
Q40832.532.6
Q10931.732
Q20931.931.9
Q3093231.9
Q40932.131.8
Q11031.131.8
Q21031.731.7
Q31032.231.7
Q41031.831.5
Q11130.931.5
Q21131.431.4
Q31131.931.5
Q41131.731.5
Q11231.531.6
Q21231.531.5
Q31231.831.6
Q41231.631.6
Q11331.231.6
Q21331.631.6
Q31331.731.6
Q41331.731.7
Q11431.331.7
Q21431.831.8
Q31431.931.8
Q41431.931.8
Q11531.531.9
Q2153232
Q31532.232.1
Q41532.532
Q11631.732
Q21632.132

Average weekly paid hours increased by 0.3% in the year to Q2 2016. Seasonally adjusted average weekly paid hours saw no change in the quarter.

The largest annual percentage increase in average weekly paid hours in Q2 2016 was recorded in the Professional, scientific and technical activities sector (+3.1%), from 32.5 to 33.5 hours. The largest percentage decreases over the same period were seen in the Public administration & defence sector (-1.9%) from 36.4 to 35.7 hours and the Transportation and storage sector (-1.6%) from 37.3 to 36.7 hours. Excluding temporary Census field staff the Public administration & defence sector fell 0.5% to 36.2 hours in the period.

Enterprises with less than 50 employees showed an increase in average weekly paid hours of 1.0%, while enterprises with between 50 and 250 employees decreased by 0.6%. Enterprises with greater than 250 employees saw no change in average weekly paid hours in the year to Q2 2016 remaining at 33.1. 

The public sector average weekly paid hours decreased by 0.9% in the year to Q2 2016, falling from 32.5 to 32.2 while the private sector recorded an increase in average weekly paid hours of 0.6% from 31.9 to 32.1 in the year. Excluding temporary Census field staff average weekly paid hours decreased by 0.6% to 32.3 in the year to Q2 2016. See table 3 and table A4.

 

Average hourly total labour costs decrease by €0.01 in year to Q2 2016

Average hourly total labour costs decreased by €0.01 over the year to Q2 2016. The largest percentage increase in average hourly total labour costs was seen in the Transportation and storage sector, rising by 2.3% from €23.85 to €24.39 per hour. The Arts, entertainment, recreation and other services sector recorded the largest percentage decrease in average hourly total labour costs, decreasing by 2.3% from €19.62 to €19.16. Seasonally adjusted average hourly total labour costs decreased by 0.5% in the quarter to Q2 2016.

In the year to Q2 2016 the average hourly total labour costs in firms with less than 50 employees increased by 0.1% (from €20.40 to €20.42), while there was a 0.7% decrease for firms with 50 to 250 employees (from €23.43 to €23.27). Enterprises with greater than 250 employees recorded an increase of 0.3% in average hourly total labour costs over the same period (from €29.33 to €29.43). See table 6c.

The public sector average hourly total labour costs decreased by 0.1% in the year to Q2 2016, falling from €31.27 to €31.25 while the private sector recorded an increase in average hourly total labour costs of 0.3% from €23.51 to €23.58 in the year.

Average hourly total labour costs increased by 1.0% over the five years to Q2 2016, from €25.06 per hour to €25.32. The percentage changes across the sectors ranged from -5.0% in the Human health and social work sector (from €25.86 to €24.57) to +18.1% in the Information and communication sector (from €31.27 to €36.94). See table 6c and figure 6.

5 Year % change
Information & communication18.1
Wholesale & retail6.5
Administrative activities6.4
Profesional activities6.2
Industry4.7
Transportation4.1
Arts & entertainment3
Total1
Construction0.1
Financial activities0
Accommodation & food-0.9
Public admin & defense-3.7
Education-3.9
Health & social work-5

 

Average weekly earnings decrease 1.2% across the public sector in year to Q2 2016 

Average weekly earnings decreased by 1.2% across the public sector in the year to Q2 2016, falling from €917.24 to €905.97. Excluding temporary Census field staff public sector earnings decreased by 0.3% in the year to €914.58. Three of the seven public sector sub-sectors had annual increases in average weekly earnings, with an Garda Siochána recording the largest rise of 4.7% from €1,245.30 to €1,304.11 in the year to Q2 2016. The Civil service sub-sector showed a decrease in average weekly earnings in the year of 8.9%, from €926.36 to €844.22. However when temporary Census field staff are excluded the Civil service showed a fall of 1.7% to €910.54.

The Education sector recorded the highest average hourly earnings in the year to Q2 2016 of €37.89, while also showing the lowest hours worked of 23.9 hours. An Garda Siochána had the next highest earnings with average hourly earnings in the year to Q2 2016 of €30.52 and also worked the longest hours of 42.7 hours.The Defence sector recorded the lowest average hourly earnings in the year to Q2 2016 of €22.58. See tables 8a, 8b, 8c, table A4 and figure 7.

Q2 2015Q2 2016
Civil service926.36844.22
Defence811.23800.26
Garda Siochana1245.31304.11
Education912.30904.57
Regional bodies837.49809.18
Health868.48872.97
Semi-state1015.431020.63
All sectors917.24905.97

 

Annual increase of 3.5% in public sector employment in Q2 2016

The estimated number of persons employed in the public sector showed an increase of 3.5% over the year to Q2 2016 from 376,200 to 389,400, which includes 4,700 temporary Census field staff in Q2 2016. 

In the year to Q2 2016 the largest and only percentage decrease was recorded in Defence (-1.0%), a fall of 100 over the Q2 2015 figure. The largest percentage increase over the same period was recorded in the Civil service sector, increasing 14.9% from 38,300 to 44,000. Excluding temporary Census field staff the Civil service sector increased by 0.3% in the period to 39,300.

Over the five years from Q2 2011 to Q2 2016 overall employment numbers in the public sector fell by 17,800 (-4.4%) from 407,200 to 389,400. See table 8e, table A4 and figure 8.

Q2 2015Q2 2016
Civil service3830044000
Defence96009500
Garda Siochana1270012800
Education111500113000
Regional bodies3300033200
Health120700123900
Semi-state5040052900

Table 8e contains estimates of public sector employment numbers by sub-sector within the overall public sector. Public sector employment is spread across a number of NACE economic sectors and includes Semi-state bodies in sectors such as Transportation and storage and Information and communication. Furthermore, while employment in the Public administration and defence, Education, Human health and social work sectors is for the most part comprised of public sector employees, there is some element of private sector employment across these sectors.

 

Job vacancy rate remains at 0.9% in Q2 2016

The job vacancy rate at the end of Q2 2016 was 0.9%, the same rate as a year earlier. In Q2 2016 the Financial, insurance and real estate sector had the highest vacancy rate of 2.4%, followed by the Information and communication sector with a vacancy rate of 2.1%. The Transportation and storage sector and the Construction sector shared the lowest vacancy rate of 0.3% at the end of Q2 2016. See table 7c and figure 9.

The rounded number of job vacancies at the end of Q2 2016 was 15,200 representing a rise of 500 from the number of vacancies at the end of Q2 2015 and a decrease of 500 on the vacancies reported at the end of Q1 2016. See table 7b. 

Job Vacancy Rate
Q1081
Q2080.9
Q3080.7
Q4080.5
Q1090.4
Q2090.4
Q3090.3
Q4090.3
Q1100.4
Q2100.5
Q3100.5
Q4100.5
Q1110.5
Q2110.6
Q3110.5
Q4110.5
Q1120.6
Q2120.5
Q3120.6
Q4120.6
Q1130.6
Q2130.7
Q3130.7
Q4130.7
Q1140.7
Q2140.7
Q3140.8
Q4140.7
Q1151
Q2150.9
Q3151
Q4150.8
Q1161
Q2160.9

It should be noted that all earnings are gross amounts before deductions for PRSI, tax and other levies. This is particularly relevant to the public sector since March 2009 when the pension levy was introduced. 

The terms of the Haddington Road agreement have implications on public sector earnings, for example, some public sector workers have increased hours resulting in a fall in hourly earnings. For the full text of the agreement see the following link: http://per.gov.ie/haddington-road-agreement/  

Changes in the composition of employees in a given sector or group has an effect on the average levels of earnings and paid hours over time.  For example, if the proportion of part-time employees increases within a sector then it would be expected that the average weekly earnings and paid hours would fall in that sector even if the hourly pay rates were unchanged. Also, estimated averages do not reflect differences in characteristics of the job or the employees, and since EHECS collects aggregate data from each enterprise it is not possible to correct for such differences using EHECS data.

Many public sector employees are paid on the basis of incremental scales. Recruitment, particularly at lower levels, to these sectors would generally result in a depression to average earnings. The absence of recruitment has the opposite effect.  Earnings are inclusive of overtime and irregular earnings. The variability of these components can impact on trends over time. The reduction in employee numbers across the public sector will also impact on average earnings. Consideration to these factors should be given when interpreting results.
Table 1 Average weekly earnings by economic sector and other characteristics and quarter¹
NACE Principal Activity2011201220132014201520162016Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q2Q2Q2Q2Q2Q1Q2*
  €€€€€€€€%€%
B-EIndustry803.77818.37818.33848.88847.73881.87851.35-30.52 -3.5 +3.62+0.4
FConstruction705.27657.62700.83746.45706.83708.35734.49+26.14+3.7+27.66+3.9
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles506.03521.15531.87530.89536.63541.43544.14+2.71+0.5+7.51+1.4
HTransportation and storage709.09710.45740.35753.25761.65735.83766.22+30.39+4.1+4.57+0.6
IAccommodation and food services329.42312.43307.93318.85324.24316.09331.81+15.72+5.0+7.57+2.3
JInformation and communication939.86979.111,020.761,022.471,063.691,142.381,063.39-78.99 -6.9 -0.30 -
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate970.31982.72982.85986.03990.191,155.991,014.66-141.33 -12.2 +24.47+2.5
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities756.63812.93814.25781.29800.41862.77840.39-22.38 -2.6 +39.98+5.0
NAdministrative and support services 473.51485.31498.31490.19516.62524.24519.49-4.75 -0.9 +2.87+0.6
OPublic administration and defence2902.54928.86940.12927.86933.00897.14900.88+3.74+0.4-32.12 -3.4
PEducation830.97819.52814.61790.32801.06795.11794.19-0.92 -0.1 -6.87 -0.9
QHuman health and social work718.21713.22703.69678.30674.49678.21678.30+0.09-+3.81+0.6
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities474.25469.65503.13468.00477.63471.94467.77-4.17 -0.9 -9.86 -2.1
             
Total2 689.32693.50697.21694.98700.66713.41703.83-9.58 -1.3 +3.17+0.5
             
Public/Private Sector           
Private sector616.03617.69625.49627.42635.52659.15644.98-14.17 -2.1 +9.46+1.5
Public sector2893.70916.99928.03918.00917.24901.69905.97+4.28+0.5-11.27 -1.2
             
Size of Enterprise           
Less than 50 employees535.96534.59547.63545.58543.40556.99547.60-9.39 -1.7 +4.20+0.8
50-250 employees643.90640.81636.61635.94658.82667.17654.70-12.47 -1.9 -4.12 -0.6
Greater than 250 employees2816.77825.89834.40830.02831.54846.76838.16-8.60 -1.0 +6.62+0.8
             
¹ Average weekly earnings by Public sector sub-sector are set out in Table 8a.
2 Includes Census 2016 temporary field staff. See Table A4.          
* Preliminary Estimates
Open in Excel: Earnings and Labour Cost Q2 2016 Table 1 (XLS 50KB)
upArrowHide Table
Table 2 Average hourly earnings by economic sector and other characteristics and quarter¹
NACE Principal Activity2011201220132014201520162016Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q2Q2Q2Q2Q2Q1Q2*
  €€€€€€€€%€%
B-EIndustry21.3921.9521.9422.3022.0623.0722.24-0.83 -3.6 +0.18+0.8
FConstruction19.5418.7019.7819.8819.4119.6619.77+0.11+0.6+0.36+1.9
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles16.6616.8817.2517.2017.4217.8717.69-0.18 -1.0 +0.27+1.5
HTransportation and storage19.8719.7920.6821.2220.4020.7120.91+0.20+1.0+0.51+2.5
IAccommodation and food services12.5312.3812.1112.2012.1712.4112.47+0.06+0.5+0.30+2.5
JInformation and communication26.3727.3327.7828.0729.3931.5129.71-1.80 -5.7 +0.32+1.1
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate29.0528.9328.4828.3028.8832.8128.79-4.02 -12.3 -0.09 -0.3
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities23.6124.9524.3823.9324.6025.7725.06-0.71 -2.8 +0.46+1.9
NAdministrative and support services 16.3016.0916.3216.0717.1918.0817.06-1.02 -5.6 -0.13 -0.8
OPublic administration and defence226.5226.4526.5225.7625.6425.3525.26-0.09 -0.4 -0.38 -1.5
PEducation35.9035.1135.1234.2634.2633.8633.90+0.04+0.1-0.36 -1.1
QHuman health and social work23.5723.3823.2522.3922.1222.0722.15+0.08+0.4+0.03+0.1
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities16.0916.3816.8816.3817.2217.1716.57-0.60 -3.5 -0.65 -3.8
             
Total2 21.9221.9822.0421.8221.8922.5221.93-0.59 -2.6 +0.04+0.2
             
Public/Private Sector           
Private sector19.4319.5519.7619.7619.9420.8920.10-0.79 -3.8 +0.16+0.8
Public sector229.0729.2029.3928.5428.2628.1028.16+0.06+0.2-0.10 -0.4
             
Size of Enterprise           
Less than 50 employees17.5017.6318.0518.0418.0118.3917.94-0.45 -2.4 -0.07 -0.4
50-250 employees19.8119.9219.7219.6320.1420.8520.13-0.72 -3.5 -0.01 -
Greater than 250 employees225.7725.6425.7825.2625.1325.9925.32-0.67 -2.6 +0.19+0.8
             
¹ Average hourly earnings by Public sector sub-sector are set out in Table 8b.
2 Includes Census 2016 temporary field staff. See Table A4.          
* Preliminary Estimates
Open in Excel: Earnings and Labour Cost Q2 2016 Table 2 (XLS 50KB)
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Table 3 Average weekly paid hours by economic sector and other characteristics and quarter¹
NACE Principal Activity2011201220132014201520162016Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q2Q2Q2Q2Q2Q1Q2*
  hourshourshourshourshourshourshourshours%hours%
B-EIndustry37.637.337.338.138.438.238.30.1+0.3-0.1 -0.3
FConstruction36.135.235.437.636.436.037.21.2+3.30.8+2.2
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles30.430.930.830.930.830.330.80.5+1.7--
HTransportation and storage35.735.935.835.537.335.536.71.2+3.4-0.6 -1.6
IAccommodation and food services26.325.225.426.126.625.526.61.1+4.3--
JInformation and communication35.635.836.736.436.236.235.8-0.4 -1.1 -0.4 -1.1
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate33.434.034.534.834.335.235.2--0.9+2.6
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities32.032.633.432.632.533.533.5--1.0+3.1
NAdministrative and support services 29.030.230.530.530.129.030.51.5+5.20.4+1.3
OPublic administration and defence234.035.135.436.036.435.435.70.3+0.8-0.7 -1.9
PEducation23.123.323.223.123.423.523.4-0.1 -0.4 --
QHuman health and social work30.530.530.330.330.530.730.6-0.1 -0.3 0.1+0.3
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities29.528.729.828.627.727.528.20.7+2.50.5+1.8
             
Total2 31.431.531.631.832.031.732.10.4+1.30.1+0.3
             
Public/Private Sector           
Private sector31.731.631.631.831.931.632.10.5+1.60.2+0.6
Public sector230.731.431.632.232.532.132.20.1+0.3-0.3 -0.9
             
Size of Enterprise           
Less than 50 employees30.630.330.330.230.230.330.50.2+0.70.3+1.0
50-250 employees32.532.232.332.432.732.032.50.5+1.6-0.2 -0.6
Greater than 250 employees231.732.232.432.933.132.633.10.5+1.5--
             
¹ Average weekly paid hours by Public sector sub-sector are set out in Table 8c.
2 Includes Census 2016 temporary field staff. See Table A4.          
* Preliminary Estimates
Open in Excel: Earnings and Labour Cost Q2 2016 Table 3 (XLS 50KB)
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Table 4 Earnings, hours and Labour Costs, unadjusted and seasonally adjusted by other characteristics and quarter
 Unadjusted Series Seasonally Adjusted Series
QuarterAverage weekly earningsAverage weekly paid hoursAverage hourly earningsAverage hourly other labour costcAverage hourly total labour costs Average weekly earningsAverage weekly paid hoursAverage hourly earningsAverage hourly other labour costAverage hourly total labour costs
Q108704.8532.721.533.5025.03 701.9532.821.153.4624.51
Q208706.5632.921.513.4024.91 706.5132.821.503.4724.99
Q308697.6332.921.213.4224.63 711.2832.721.663.5125.17
Q408721.2732.522.173.6025.77 713.5132.621.843.4825.38
Q109710.7731.722.443.5926.03 712.4932.022.183.6125.73
Q209702.6331.922.023.6525.66 705.5331.922.123.6625.74
Q309700.0532.021.893.4925.38 706.5931.922.163.5825.79
Q409723.7232.122.523.6626.18 707.2131.822.313.5425.93
Q110691.4031.122.223.3625.58 703.9031.822.113.3825.40
Q210698.6231.722.053.2925.34 699.0931.722.073.3025.42
Q310701.4032.221.793.1324.92 699.0931.722.153.2225.44
Q410705.7831.822.163.2725.43 695.3831.522.143.1625.29
Q111686.8530.922.223.1425.36 692.0331.521.933.1525.07
Q211689.3231.421.923.1425.06 691.0231.422.013.1525.13
Q311688.5831.921.603.0824.68 691.8231.521.993.1725.12
Q411699.1931.722.093.2925.38 692.5731.521.993.1925.26
Q112699.9831.522.253.2525.50 694.1231.622.003.2625.31
Q212693.5031.521.983.2925.27 693.9431.522.033.3025.33
Q312693.7431.821.833.3125.14 693.4831.622.093.4025.42
Q412693.2131.621.923.5825.49 692.1931.621.893.4725.30
Q113693.6131.222.233.4525.68 692.7231.621.973.4025.43
Q213697.2131.622.043.3225.36 694.4631.621.973.3825.41
Q313682.2831.721.523.2224.74 695.2531.622.003.3125.38
Q413694.5031.721.893.7225.61 696.4131.722.003.5925.44
Q114700.3931.322.363.4025.77 692.8731.721.893.4125.31
Q214694.9831.821.823.3725.20 695.4531.821.883.3825.24
Q314677.1331.921.213.2624.47 692.5331.821.723.3625.11
Q414703.9131.922.083.5125.59 699.8631.821.913.3825.27
Q115702.9531.522.323.4525.77 702.2631.921.943.4625.34
Q215700.6632.021.893.4425.33 700.4032.021.893.4525.36
Q315693.5732.221.513.3424.84 701.8232.121.863.4425.35
Q415712.0232.521.923.4525.37 700.1932.021.873.3325.19
Q116713.4131.722.523.4826.00 705.1232.022.053.4325.49
Q216*703.8332.121.933.3925.32 702.6632.021.883.4625.35
*Preliminary Results
Open in Excel: Earnings and Labour Cost Q2 2016 Table 4 (XLS 39KB)
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Table 5a Average hourly earnings excluding irregular earnings by economic sector and other characteristics and quarter¹²
NACE Principal Activity2011201220132014201520162016Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q2Q2Q2Q2Q2Q1Q2*
  €€€€€€€€%€%
B-EIndustry20.4220.7720.6920.8920.8620.8820.97+0.09+0.4+0.11+0.5
FConstruction19.2818.4519.3019.3719.1219.5019.36-0.14 -0.7 +0.24+1.3
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles15.9516.0916.3516.2316.5216.7916.58-0.21 -1.3 +0.06+0.4
HTransportation and storage18.6318.6019.3419.7619.2219.8219.70-0.12 -0.6 +0.48+2.5
IAccommodation and food services12.3712.2311.9212.0011.9312.0812.23+0.15+1.2+0.30+2.5
JInformation and communication24.7625.2825.5525.5726.8426.6926.83+0.14+0.5-0.01 -
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate27.0027.1926.9326.7227.1326.7227.34+0.62+2.3+0.21+0.8
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities22.7223.8823.6822.7823.6023.7523.84+0.09+0.4+0.24+1.0
NAdministrative and support services 15.5215.4615.6415.3016.3016.3316.00-0.33 -2.0 -0.30 -1.8
OPublic administration and defence324.9525.1425.2124.3924.3524.2823.96-0.32 -1.3 -0.39 -1.6
PEducation35.5634.7734.8033.9233.8733.5033.58+0.08+0.2-0.29 -0.9
QHuman health and social work22.3522.1922.0721.3921.1721.1521.17+0.02+0.1--
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities15.7716.0616.4515.9516.8416.0316.03---0.81 -4.8
             
Total3 20.9621.0021.0420.7620.8920.9120.87-0.04 -0.2 -0.02 -0.1
             
Public/Private Sector           
Private sector18.6118.7118.8918.7919.0219.1119.11--+0.09+0.5
Public sector327.7227.8027.9627.2027.0127.0526.87-0.18 -0.7 -0.14 -0.5
             
Size of Enterprise           
Less than 50 employees17.0917.1717.5217.4517.4817.5017.35-0.15 -0.9 -0.13 -0.7
50-250 employees18.9819.0318.8718.7719.1719.0219.07+0.05+0.3-0.10 -0.5
Greater than 250 employees324.3824.2824.3823.8023.8123.9623.94-0.02 -0.1 +0.13+0.5
             
¹ Average hourly earnings excluding irregular earnings plus the average hourly irregular earnings in Table 5b equal average hourly earnings as set out in Table 2.
² Average hourly earnings excluding irregular earnings by Public sector sub-sector are set out in Table 8d.
3 Includes Census 2016 temporary field staff. See Table A4.          
* Preliminary Estimates
Open in Excel: Earnings and Labour Cost Q2 2016 Table 5a (XLS 50KB)
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Table 5b Average hourly irregular earnings by economic sector and other characteristics and quarter¹
NACE Principal Activity2011201220132014201520162016Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q2Q2Q2Q2Q2Q1Q2*
  €€€€€€€€€
B-EIndustry0.971.181.251.421.192.191.27-0.92 +0.08
FConstruction0.270.240.480.500.290.170.41+0.24+0.12
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles0.710.790.900.960.901.091.11+0.02+0.21
HTransportation and storage1.241.191.331.471.180.901.21+0.31+0.03
IAccommodation and food services0.150.150.180.200.240.330.24-0.09-
JInformation and communication1.612.052.232.502.554.822.88-1.94+0.33
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate2.051.741.551.581.756.101.45-4.65-0.30
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities0.891.070.711.151.002.011.21-0.80+0.21
NAdministrative and support services 0.780.630.680.770.891.741.06-0.68+0.17
OPublic administration and defence21.581.321.311.371.281.081.30+0.22+0.02
PEducation0.340.340.320.330.390.350.32-0.03-0.07
QHuman health and social work1.221.191.181.000.960.920.98+0.06+0.02
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities0.320.320.430.430.381.130.54-0.59+0.16
           
Total2 0.960.981.001.060.991.611.06-0.55+0.07
           
Public/Private Sector         
Private sector0.820.830.870.970.921.780.99-0.79+0.07
Public sector21.351.401.431.341.251.051.29+0.24+0.04
           
Size of Enterprise         
Less than 50 employees0.410.460.530.590.520.890.59-0.30+0.07
50-250 employees0.830.880.840.860.971.841.06-0.78+0.09
Greater than 250 employees21.391.361.401.461.322.031.38-0.65+0.06
           
¹ Average hourly irregular earnings plus the average hourly earnings excluding irregular earnings in Table 5a equal average hourly earnings as set out in Table 2.
2 Includes Census 2016 temporary field staff. See Table A4.        
* Preliminary Estimates
Open in Excel: Earnings and Labour Cost Q2 2016 Table 5b (XLS 47KB)
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Table 6a Average hourly other labour costs by economic sector and other characteristics and quarter
NACE Principal Activity2011201220132014201520162016Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q2Q2Q2Q2Q2Q1Q2*
  €€€€€€€€%€%
B-EIndustry4.294.604.764.674.764.954.64-0.31 -6.3 -0.12 -2.5
FConstruction2.722.212.412.632.422.552.53-0.02 -0.8 +0.11+4.5
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles2.512.782.692.902.782.712.72+0.01+0.4-0.06 -2.2
HTransportation and storage3.553.883.703.743.463.603.49-0.11 -3.1 +0.03+0.9
IAccommodation and food services1.381.131.131.281.301.301.30----
JInformation and communication4.905.445.636.327.416.397.24+0.85+13.3-0.17 -2.3
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate6.696.966.937.017.247.506.93-0.57 -7.6 -0.31 -4.3
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities3.804.104.183.624.074.094.07-0.02 -0.5 --
NAdministrative and support services 1.902.322.242.502.552.592.31-0.28 -10.8 -0.24 -9.4
OPublic administration and defence12.022.002.082.162.162.192.21+0.02+0.9+0.05+2.3
PEducation3.163.403.513.483.533.613.63+0.02+0.6+0.10+2.8
QHuman health and social work2.292.442.372.372.442.442.42-0.02 -0.8 -0.02 -0.8
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities2.512.092.312.552.402.982.59-0.39 -13.1 +0.19+7.9
             
Total1 3.143.293.323.373.443.483.39-0.09 -2.6 -0.05 -1.5
             
Public/Private Sector           
Private sector3.233.383.413.483.573.593.48-0.11 -3.1 -0.09 -2.5
Public sector12.883.043.023.043.013.123.09-0.03 -1.0 +0.08+2.7
             
Size of Enterprise           
Less than 50 employees2.292.382.432.412.392.522.48-0.04 -1.6 +0.09+3.8
50-250 employees3.293.233.233.223.293.433.14-0.29 -8.5 -0.15 -4.6
Greater than 250 employees13.693.933.994.104.204.164.10-0.06 -1.4 -0.10 -2.4
             
1 Includes Census 2016 temporary field staff. See Table A4.          
* Preliminary Estimates
Open in Excel: Earnings and Labour Cost Q2 2016 Table 6a (XLS 52KB)
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Table 6b Average hourly benefits in kind (BIK) by economic sector and other characteristics and quarter¹
NACE Principal Activity2011201220132014201520162016Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q2Q2Q2Q2Q2Q1Q2*
  €€€€€€€€%€%
B-EIndustry0.270.450.430.200.320.260.25-0.01 -3.8 -0.07 -21.9
FConstruction0.080.090.070.050.050.050.06+0.01+20.0+0.01+20.0
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles0.210.380.290.360.350.240.30+0.06+25.0-0.05 -14.3
HTransportation and storage0.070.080.140.120.130.110.10-0.01 -9.1 -0.03 -23.1
IAccommodation and food services0.020.010.020.010.030.010.02+0.01+100.0-0.01 -33.3
JInformation and communication0.310.500.890.951.300.990.66-0.33 -33.3 -0.64 -49.2
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate0.430.330.290.400.530.380.39+0.01+2.6-0.14 -26.4
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities0.170.400.350.200.190.380.30-0.08 -21.1 +0.11+57.9
NAdministrative and support services 0.130.240.180.140.170.270.23-0.04 -14.8 +0.06+35.3
OPublic administration and defence0.010.010.010.010.010.010.00-0.01 --0.01 -
PEducation0.010.010.020.000.000.010.00-0.01 ---
QHuman health and social work0.000.020.010.010.010.010.01----
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities0.470.100.110.170.110.730.59-0.14 -19.2 +0.48+436.4
             
Total2 0.160.220.210.190.230.210.19-0.02 -9.5 -0.04 -17.4
             
Public/Private Sector           
Private sector0.210.290.280.240.290.270.24-0.03 -11.1 -0.05 -17.2
Public sector20.010.010.010.010.010.010.01----
             
Size of Enterprise           
Less than 50 employees0.150.160.180.150.160.150.15---0.01 -6.3
50-250 employees0.220.240.220.220.180.250.17-0.08 -32.0 -0.01 -5.6
Greater than 250 employees20.140.260.240.200.290.230.23---0.06 -20.7
             
¹ Average hourly beneifts in kind (BIK) are a sub-component of average hourly other labour costs as set out in Table 6a. BIK is considered an income rather than an other labour cost by Eurostat and in Structure of Earnings Statistics
2 Includes Census 2016 temporary field staff. See Table A4.          
* Preliminary Estimates
Open in Excel: Earnings and Labour Cost Q2 2016 Table 6b (XLS 51KB)
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Table 6c Average hourly total labour costs by economic sector and other characteristics and quarter¹
NACE Principal Activity2011201220132014201520162016Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q2Q2Q2Q2Q2Q1Q2*
  €€€€€€€€%€%
B-EIndustry25.6826.5526.7026.9726.8128.0126.88-1.13 -4.0 +0.07+0.3
FConstruction22.2720.9022.1922.5021.8322.2122.30+0.09+0.4+0.47+2.2
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles19.1719.6619.9320.1020.2020.5920.41-0.18 -0.9 +0.21+1.0
HTransportation and storage23.4323.6724.3824.9623.8524.3124.39+0.08+0.3+0.54+2.3
IAccommodation and food services13.9013.5113.2313.4713.4713.7113.77+0.06+0.4+0.30+2.2
JInformation and communication31.2732.7733.4134.3936.8037.9136.94-0.97 -2.6 +0.14+0.4
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate35.7435.8935.4135.3036.1240.3235.73-4.59 -11.4 -0.39 -1.1
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities27.4129.0528.5727.5528.6729.8629.12-0.74 -2.5 +0.45+1.6
NAdministrative and support services 18.2018.4118.5618.5719.7420.6719.37-1.30 -6.3 -0.37 -1.9
OPublic administration and defence228.5428.4628.6027.9227.7927.5527.48-0.07 -0.3 -0.31 -1.1
PEducation39.0638.5138.6437.7337.7937.4737.53+0.06+0.2-0.26 -0.7
QHuman health and social work25.8625.8325.6224.7624.5724.5024.57+0.07+0.3--
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities18.6018.4719.1918.9319.6220.1419.16-0.98 -4.9 -0.46 -2.3
             
Total2 25.0625.2725.3625.2025.3326.0025.32-0.68 -2.6 -0.01 -
             
Public/Private Sector           
Private sector22.6722.9323.1723.2423.5124.4823.58-0.90 -3.7 +0.07+0.3
Public sector231.9532.2432.4131.5831.2731.2231.25+0.03+0.1-0.02 -0.1
             
Size of Enterprise           
Less than 50 employees19.8020.0120.4820.4520.4020.9120.42-0.49 -2.3 +0.02+0.1
50-250 employees23.0923.1522.9522.8523.4324.2823.27-1.01 -4.2 -0.16 -0.7
Greater than 250 employees229.4629.5729.7729.3729.3330.1529.43-0.72 -2.4 +0.10+0.3
             
¹ Average hourly total labour costs equal the average hourly earnings in Table 2 plus the average hourly other labour costs as set out in Table 6a.
2 Includes Census 2016 temporary field staff. See Table A4.          
* Preliminary Estimates
Open in Excel: Earnings and Labour Cost Q2 2016 Table 6c (XLS 51KB)
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Table 7a Employment by economic sector and other characteristics and quarter¹
NACE Principal Activity200920102011201220132014201520162016
Q2Q2Q2Q2Q2Q2Q2Q1Q2*
           
B-EIndustry212,600199,700198,000190,500195,900193,500201,000204,400207,900
FConstruction96,50073,20064,70059,00061,80063,80074,80081,30087,200
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles290,100281,900278,300273,500276,700271,700276,300280,200281,300
HTransportation and storage63,90061,60065,50063,00059,80061,90063,70065,70064,400
IAccommodation and food services133,000128,700116,900123,000136,500144,200141,900148,400152,700
JInformation and communication55,00056,00055,00058,60057,00059,30060,10062,40062,200
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate96,10091,60091,00086,20086,50084,50087,60087,30088,900
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities74,30073,40073,40071,50075,00081,90084,20080,40086,400
NAdministrative and support services 80,10074,90080,80073,00068,00075,30077,80081,70082,500
OPublic administration and defence2119,700118,700110,500110,600105,400107,300111,600108,600116,200
PEducation134,800133,300130,400131,300134,700135,700133,700136,600134,900
QHuman health and social work209,900215,900223,200222,200222,200225,000227,000227,100230,300
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities47,30045,30047,60049,60048,40045,20049,30050,00051,000
           
Total2 1,613,3001,554,2001,535,3001,512,0001,527,9001,549,4001,589,0001,614,2001,646,000
           
Public/Private Sector         
Private sector1,195,6001,144,7001,128,1001,128,6001,149,7001,175,5001,212,9001,227,6001,256,600
Public sector2417,700409,500407,200383,400378,200373,900376,200386,600389,400
           
¹ It should be noted that the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) is the official source of estimates of employment. The estimated trend in the number of employees refers to
QHNS employee estimates, but differs in coverage in certain ways, such as the fact that a person with two jobs could be counted twice in the table and the exclusion of the Agriculture,
forestry and fishing sector which is covered by the QNHS.
2 Includes Census 2016 temporary field staff. See Table A4.        
* Preliminary Estimate
Open in Excel: Earnings and Labour Cost Q2 2016 Table 7a (XLS 40KB)
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Table 7b Job vacancies by economic sector and other characteristics and quarter
NACE Principal Activity200920102011201220132014201520162016
Q2Q2Q2Q2Q2Q2Q2Q1Q2*
           
B-EIndustry7851,2467301,0601,0521,3271,1071,4551,503
FConstruction8321513143147160588360299
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles5161,0941,5339341,2991,4892,0791,6651,440
HTransportation and storage16626019213563262184222187
IAccommodation and food services5192913324558438508831,089678
JInformation and communication3066451,2798721,1561,1581,5331,5341,342
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate4301,4191,5861,8501,6191,3851,7542,2632,173
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities2453349054165451,2601,1131,3811,204
NAdministrative and support services 325275369451732603896956834
OPublic administration and defence8854713114945645711,3211,6201,622
PEducation256353354337664585859402961
QHuman health and social work9569508767911,5521,2151,9852,3942,483
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities209359320190275182361398467
           
Total 5,7007,9008,8008,10010,50011,00014,70015,70015,200
           
Public/Private Sector         
Private sector4,0006,4007,6006,9008,7009,40011,20012,00010,800
Public sector1,7001,6001,2001,3001,8001,6003,4003,7004,400
           
* Preliminary Estimates
Open in Excel: Earnings and Labour Cost Q2 2016 Table 7b (XLS 35KB)
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Table 7c Job vacancy rate by economic sector and other characterisics and quarter
NACE Principal Activitity200920102011201220132014201520162016
Q2Q2Q2Q2Q2Q2Q2Q1Q2*
  %%%%%%%%%
B-EIndustry0.40.60.40.60.50.70.50.70.7
FConstruction0.10.3-0.20.20.30.80.40.3
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles0.20.40.50.30.50.50.70.60.5
HTransportation and storage0.30.40.30.20.10.40.30.30.3
IAccommodation and food services0.40.20.30.40.60.50.60.70.4
JInformation and communication0.61.12.31.52.01.92.52.42.1
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate0.41.51.72.11.81.62.02.52.4
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities0.30.51.20.60.71.51.31.71.4
NAdministrative and support services 0.40.30.50.61.00.61.11.21.0
OPublic administration and defence0.70.40.30.40.50.51.21.51.4
PEducation0.20.30.30.30.50.40.60.30.7
QHuman health and social work0.50.40.40.40.70.50.91.01.1
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities0.40.80.70.40.60.40.70.80.9
           
Total 0.40.50.60.50.70.70.91.00.9
           
Public/Private Sector         
Private Sector0.30.50.70.60.70.80.91.00.9
Public Sector0.40.40.30.30.50.40.90.91.1
           
* Preliminary Estimates  
Open in Excel: Earnings and Labour Cost Q2 2016 Table 7c (XLS 44KB)
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Table 8a Average weekly earnings by public sector sub-sector and quarter
Public sector sub-sector2011201220132014201520162016Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q2Q2Q2Q2Q2Q1Q2*
 €€€€€€€€%€%
Civil service1853.11932.35943.46928.23926.36828.68844.22+15.54+1.9-82.14-8.9
Defence832.76850.05837.73812.16811.23811.03800.26-10.77-1.3-10.97-1.4
Garda Siochana1,345.961,209.681,237.871,236.091,245.301,206.151,304.11+97.96+8.1+58.81+4.7
Education887.98911.19914.50913.79912.30899.41904.57+5.16+0.6-7.73-0.8
Regional bodies789.79808.74818.54815.69837.49844.49809.18-35.31-4.2-28.31-3.4
Health867.71880.47897.68869.78868.48866.31872.97+6.66+0.8+4.49+0.5
Semi-state964.901,013.961,027.951,029.941,015.431,024.201,020.63-3.57-0.3+5.20+0.5
            
Total public sector1893.70916.99928.03918.00917.24901.69905.97+4.28+0.5-11.27-1.2
            
Total public sector excluding semi-state bodies1883.20902.35913.50899.99901.64882.27888.50+6.23+0.7-13.14-1.5
            
Semi-state by sub-sector           
Non Commercial Semi-state bodies988.601,023.751,045.65959.59969.26993.70963.52-30.18-3.0-5.74-0.6
Commercial Semi-state bodies958.741,011.181,023.021,057.801,033.901,034.351,040.46+6.11+0.6+6.56+0.6
            
1 Includes Census 2016 temporary field staff. See Table A4.         
* Preliminary Estimates
Open in Excel: Earnings and Labour Cost Q2 2016 Table 8a (XLS 43KB)
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Table 8b Average hourly earnings by public sector sub-sector and quarter
Public sector sub-sector2011201220132014201520162016Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q2Q2Q2Q2Q2Q1Q2*
 €€€€€€€€%€%
Civil service126.9426.6926.9425.4825.4724.9224.09-0.83-3.3-1.38-5.4
Defence23.1723.7723.4922.7922.8522.8022.58-0.22-1.0-0.27-1.2
Garda Siochana29.8429.9330.3730.5930.2728.8030.52+1.72+6.0+0.25+0.8
Education38.0638.7638.8238.1338.0137.5537.89+0.34+0.9-0.12-0.3
Regional bodies24.3623.7623.8223.4723.3023.4823.39-0.09-0.4+0.09+0.4
Health26.5726.6526.8825.5525.3225.0725.36+0.29+1.2+0.04+0.2
Semi-state26.5728.1728.0327.7227.4127.4927.76+0.27+1.0+0.35+1.3
            
Total public sector1 29.0729.2029.3928.5428.2628.1028.16+0.06+0.2-0.10-0.4
            
Total public sector excluding semi-state bodies129.5229.3829.6228.6928.4228.2128.24+0.03+0.1-0.18-0.6
            
Semi-state by sub-sector           
Non Commercial Semi-state bodies29.5030.1030.3127.8128.3028.2328.23---0.07-0.2
Commercial Semi-state bodies25.8827.6727.4427.6927.0927.2727.61+0.34+1.2+0.52+1.9
            
1 Includes Census 2016 temporary field staff. See Table A4.         
* Preliminary Estimates
Open in Excel: Earnings and Labour Cost Q2 2016 Table 8b (XLS 44KB)
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Table 8c Average weekly paid hours by public sector sub-sector and quarter
Public sector sub-sector2011201220132014201520162016Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q2Q2Q2Q2Q2Q1Q2*
 hourshourshourshourshourshourshourshours%hours%
Civil service131.734.935.036.436.433.335.0+1.7+5.1-1.4-3.8
Defence35.935.835.735.635.535.635.4-0.2-0.6-0.1-0.3
Garda Siochana45.140.440.840.441.141.942.7+0.8+1.9+1.6+3.9
Education23.323.523.624.024.024.023.9-0.1-0.4-0.1-0.4
Regional bodies32.434.034.434.835.936.034.6-1.4-3.9-1.3-3.6
Health32.733.033.434.034.334.634.4-0.2-0.6+0.1+0.3
Semi-state36.336.036.737.237.037.336.8-0.5-1.3-0.2-0.5
            
Total public sector130.731.431.632.232.532.132.2+0.1+0.3-0.3-0.9
            
Total public sector excluding semi-state bodies129.930.730.831.431.731.331.5+0.2+0.6-0.2-0.6
            
Semi-state by sub-sector           
Non Commercial Semi-state bodies33.534.034.534.534.335.234.1-1.1-3.1-0.2-0.6
Commercial Semi-state bodies37.036.637.338.238.237.937.7-0.2-0.5-0.5-1.3
            
1 Includes Census 2016 temporary field staff. See Table A4.         
* Preliminary Estimates
Open in Excel: Earnings and Labour Cost Q2 2016 Table 8c (XLS 45KB)
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Table 8d Average hourly earnings excluding irregular earnings by public sector sub-sector and quarter¹
Public sector sub-sector2011201220132014201520162016Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q2Q2Q2Q2Q2Q1Q2*
 €€€€€€€€%€%
Civil service225.8226.1426.4124.9324.9124.4023.57-0.83-3.4-1.34-5.4
Defence22.1822.8322.5022.0222.0321.9721.83-0.14-0.6-0.20-0.9
Garda Siochana24.8624.4824.9425.0624.8624.8625.04+0.18+0.7+0.18+0.7
Education37.7138.4038.5137.7937.6237.2837.58+0.30+0.8-0.04-0.1
Regional bodies23.5623.0823.0922.5122.4822.7122.63-0.08-0.4+0.15+0.7
Health24.8424.9325.0624.0223.8623.7223.88+0.16+0.7+0.02+0.1
Semi-state25.2326.0825.8525.6525.7926.2325.74-0.49-1.9-0.05-0.2
            
Total public sector227.7227.8027.9627.2027.0127.0526.87-0.18-0.7-0.14-0.5
            
Total public sector excluding semi-state bodies228.1728.1028.3327.4927.2327.2027.08-0.12-0.4-0.15-0.6
            
Semi-state by sub-sector           
Non Commercial Semi-state bodies29.3730.0030.1827.6527.9127.8127.65-0.16-0.6-0.26-0.9
Commercial Semi-state bodies24.2625.0524.7424.9425.0325.7425.14-0.60-2.3+0.11+0.4
            
¹ To calculate average hourly irregular earnings subtract values in Table 8d from Table 8b.
2 Includes Census 2016 temporary field staff. See Table A4.         
* Preliminary Estimates
Open in Excel: Earnings and Labour Cost Q2 2016 Table 8d (XLS 44KB)
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Table 8e Public sector employment by sub-sector and quarter¹
Public sector sub-sector2011201220132014201520162016Annual change
Q2Q2Q2Q2Q2Q1Q2*
 '000'000'000'000'000'000'000'000%
Civil service245.039.339.438.838.343.644.05.714.9
Defence10.39.59.79.69.69.59.5-0.1-1.0
Garda Siochana14.213.513.212.912.712.812.80.10.8
Education117.5109.4111.0110.1111.5112.0113.01.51.3
Regional bodies34.834.132.132.733.032.733.20.20.6
Health132.0126.1123.6118.4120.7123.1123.93.22.7
Semi-state53.551.549.251.450.452.852.92.55.0
          
Total public sector2407.2383.4378.2373.9376.2386.6389.413.23.5
          
Total public sector excluding semi-state bodies2353.7331.9329.1322.5325.8333.8336.510.73.3
          
Semi-state by sub-sector         
Non Commercial Semi-state bodies11.110.29.712.712.312.112.40.10.8
Commercial Semi-state bodies42.441.339.438.738.140.740.52.46.3
          
¹ Source: Earnings, Hours and Employment Costs Survey. Public Sector employment includes all those who received a payment which would include both full-time and part-time employees as well as contract workers.
Total public sector numbers are also published by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on a quarterly basis. Those differ in coverage from the estimates in Table A1 as Department of Public Expenditure and
Reform estimates are based on full-time equivalents which will change over time based on both changes in working hours and number of persons employed.
2 Includes Census 2016 temporary field staff. See Table A4.
* Preliminary Estimates
Open in Excel: Earnings and Labour Cost Q2 2016 Table 8e (XLS 36KB)
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Table A1 Estimates of average weekly earnings by broad occupational categories1
Occupation by NACE groups201420152016Quarterly changeAnnual change
Q1Q1Q4Q1
 €€€€             % %
Managers, professionals and associated professionals
B-E1,458.281,450.861,475.481,499.29+1.6+3.3
B-N, R-S1,229.641,253.731,288.371,288.41-+2.8
O-Q1,085.921,108.361,141.171,140.89-+2.9
       
Total (B-S)1,145.341,162.041,197.451,199.63+0.2+3.2
       
Clerical, sales and service employees
B-E761.22731.48770.97768.10-0.4+5.0
B-N, R-S442.63441.59460.87453.86-1.5+2.8
O-Q526.09508.44537.15532.27-0.9+4.7
       
Total (B-S)470.12452.73470.33464.16-1.3+2.5
       
Production, transport, craft and other manual workers
B-E660.55654.85710.21703.99-0.9+7.5
B-N, R-S483.98502.40526.25513.87-2.4+2.3
O-Q434.45458.90442.75447.95+1.2-2.4
       
Total (B-S)477.18490.33501.43491.85-1.9+0.3
       
1 These estimates have been generated using a sub sample of EHECS respondents and therefore caution is advised when
   interpreting these results. See background notes.
Open in Excel: Earnings and Labour Cost Q2 2016 Table A1 (XLS 35KB)
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Table A2 Response rates in selected sectors by quarter1
NACE Principal ActivityEmployer Response Rate % Respondent Enterprises Final Q1 2016  Respondent Enterprises Preliminary Q2 2016  Employee Response Rate %
Final Q1 2015Preliminary Q1 2016 Final Q1 2016Preliminary Q2 2016Final Q1 2015Preliminary Q1 2016 Final Q1 2016Preliminary Q2 2016
                 
B-EIndustry65.256.6 66.855.4 764 635 86.473.2 84.671.1
FConstruction45.736.3 46.435.7 136 111 72.855.3 68.559.0
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles62.652.2 67.556.0 953 798 81.172.7 80.963.5
HTransportation and storage51.348.9 57.649.0 163 140 86.484.3 87.678.3
IAccommodation and food services47.944.0 58.141.9 508 374 62.560.0 73.651.9
JInformation and communication67.258.3 70.659.9 240 208 86.578.0 86.972.7
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate69.762.0 72.760.7 242 213 90.982.7 90.288.0
MProfessional, scientific and technical activites62.852.7 63.651.6 297 252 78.765.2 79.268.5
NAdministrative and support service activities63.656.3 63.350.8 274 223 84.079.0 84.368.3
OPublic administration and defence91.584.2 90.291.0 119 121 97.897.4 98.796.4
PEducation73.264.4 72.856.0 182 141 92.286.8 90.782.8
QHuman health and social work78.065.6 74.166.2 573 506 93.887.1 90.686.7
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities67.556.0 66.150.1 288 219 85.675.6 85.766.6
                 
Total 63.654.8 66.154.2 4,739 3,941 86.779.3 86.575.8
                 
1 This table presents the response rates achieved by sector. Greater caution should be taken in the interpretation of estimates for sectors with lower response rates as these sectors could be subject
   to greater revisions if response levels are increased for final estimates.
Open in Excel: Earnings and Labour Cost Q2 2016 Table A2 (XLS 36KB)
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Table A3 Preliminary data versus final data1
NACE Principal ActivityPreliminary Q1 2016 Final Q1 2016 Percentage Change
Average weekly earningsAverage hourly earningsAverage weekly hoursAverage weekly earningsAverage hourly earningsAverage weekly hoursAverage weekly earningsAverage hourly earningsAverage weekly hours
             
B-EIndustry873.9422.8238.3881.8723.0738.2+0.9+1.1-0.2
FConstruction693.2419.3035.9708.3519.6636.0+2.2+1.9+0.3
GWholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles537.5817.7830.2541.4317.8730.3+0.7+0.5+0.3
HTransportation and storage719.3920.2135.6735.8320.7135.5+2.3+2.5-0.2
IAccommodation and food services312.1512.4825.0316.0912.4125.5+1.3-0.6 +1.9
JInformation and communication1,150.6731.9136.11,142.3831.5136.2-0.7 -1.2 +0.4
K-LFinancial, insurance and real estate1,161.7532.8435.41,155.9932.8135.2-0.5 -0.1 -0.5
MProfessional, scientific and technical activities849.2325.2633.6862.7725.7733.5+1.6+2.0-0.3
NAdministrative and support service522.6017.9029.2524.2418.0829.0+0.3+1.0-0.7
OPublic administration and defence2894.8825.3335.3897.1425.3535.4+0.3+0.1+0.2
PEducation786.5633.8723.2795.1133.8623.5+1.1-0.0 +1.2
QHuman health and social work673.8722.0130.6678.2122.0730.7+0.6+0.3+0.4
R-SArts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities474.6617.2827.5471.9417.1727.5-0.6 -0.7 -
           
Total2 707.9922.4031.6713.4122.5231.7+0.8+0.5+0.2
           
Public/Private Sector           
Private sector654.1120.7531.5659.1520.8931.6+0.8+0.7+0.3
Public sector2895.5828.0831.9901.6928.1032.1+0.7+0.1+0.6
           
Size of Enterprise           
Less than 50 employees551.9818.3030.2556.9918.3930.3+0.9+0.5+0.3
50-250 employees662.1120.7431.9667.1720.8532.0+0.8+0.5+0.3
Greater than 250 employees2842.4825.8932.5846.7625.9932.6+0.5+0.4+0.3
           
1 See background notes.
2 Includes Census 2016 temporary field staff. See Table A4.
Open in Excel: Earnings and Labour Cost Q2 2016 Table A3 (XLS 38KB)
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Table A4 Effect of Census field staff on earnings, hours, labour costs and employment
Q1 2016Average Weekly EarningsAverage Hourly EarningsAverage Weekly Paid HoursAverage Hourly Earnings ex Irregular EarningsAverage Hourly Irregular EarningsAverage Hourly Other Labour CostsAverage Hourly Total Labour CostsEmployment
€€Hours€€€€
Including Census 2016 temporary field staff
Public administration and defence897.1425.3535.424.281.082.1927.55108,600
Civil service828.6824.9233.324.400.521.8326.7543,600
Total public sector ex semi-state882.2728.2131.327.201.012.7030.91333,800
Total public sector901.6928.1032.127.051.053.1231.22386,600
Greater than 250 employees846.7625.9932.623.962.034.1630.15756,900
Total all sectors713.4122.5231.720.911.613.4826.001,614,200
         
Excluding Census 2016 temporary field staff
Public administration and defence932.5125.4736.624.381.082.2027.67104,100
Civil service916.7825.2236.424.680.531.8527.0639,100
Total public sector ex semi-state893.9728.2631.627.251.012.7130.97329,300
Total public sector912.0128.1432.427.091.053.1231.27382,100
Greater than 250 employees851.3126.0132.723.982.034.1730.17752,300
Total all sectors715.1722.5331.720.911.623.4826.011,609,700
 
Q2 2016 *Average Weekly EarningsAverage Hourly EarningsAverage Weekly Paid HoursAverage Hourly Earnings ex Irregular EarningsAverage Hourly Irregular EarningsAverage Hourly Other Labour CostsAverage Hourly Total Labour CostsEmployment
€€Hours€€€€
Including Census 2016 temporary field staff
Public administration and defence900.8825.2635.723.961.302.2127.48116,200
Civil service844.2224.0935.023.570.521.8625.9544,000
Total public sector ex semi-state888.5028.2431.527.081.162.7230.95336,500
Total public sector905.9728.1632.226.871.293.0931.25389,400
Greater than 250 employees838.1625.3233.123.941.384.1029.43775,400
Total all sectors703.8321.9332.120.871.063.3925.321,646,000
         
Excluding Census 2016 temporary field staff
Public administration and defence928.9025.6736.224.341.332.2527.92111,500
Civil service910.5425.0736.324.500.561.9226.9939,300
Total public sector ex semi-state898.1628.4431.627.271.172.7331.17331,800
Total public sector914.5828.3332.327.031.303.1131.44384,700
Greater than 250 employees841.1425.3733.223.991.384.1229.48770,700
Total all sectors705.0221.9432.120.881.063.4025.341,641,300
* Preliminary Estimates
Open in Excel: Earnings and Labour Cost Q2 2016 Table A4 (XLS 35KB)
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Background Notes

Introduction

The Earnings, Hours and Employment Costs Survey (EHECS) replaced the four-yearly Labour Costs Survey, and also replaced all other CSO short-term earnings inquiries. The EHECS results are comparable across sectors and include more detail on components of earnings and labour costs than was previously available.

Legislation  

The survey information is collected by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) under the S.I. No 140 of 2013 Statistics (Labour Costs Surveys) Order 2013. The information collected is treated as strictly confidential in accordance with the Statistics Act 1993. The survey results meet the requirements for Labour Costs statistics set out in Council Regulation (EC) 530/1999.

Business Register 

The CSO’s Business Register provides the register of relevant enterprises for the survey. An enterprise is defined as the smallest legally independent unit.

Business Classification

The business classification used for the EHECS is based on the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE Rev.2). The NACE code of each enterprise included in the survey was determined from the predominant activity of the enterprise, based on information provided in this or other CSO inquiries.

Nace Classification

NACE Rev.2 is the latest classification system for economic activities, updated from NACE Rev 1.1. A major revision of NACE was conducted between 2000 and 2007, in order to ensure that the NACE classification system remained relevant for the economy.  The main changes that affected the release were the reclassification of some industrial enterprises from industry to services (principally in the software and publishing sectors) and the inclusion of air conditioning supply, sewerage, water management and remediation activities in industry. See web link to NACE coder :-

http://www.cso.ie/px/u/NACECoder/NACE Items/search nace.asp

Coverage

The survey results relate to enterprises in the Nace Rev 2 Sections B–E (Industry), F (Construction), G (Wholesale & retail trade: repair of motor vehicles & motorcycles), H (Transportation & storage), I (Accommodation & food services activities), J (Information & communication), K-L (Financial, insurance & real estate activities), M (Professional, scientific & technical activities), N (Administrative & support services activities), O (Public administration & defence), P (Education), Q (Human health & social work activities) and R-S (Arts, entertainment, recreation & other service activities) with 3 or more employees. The data was collected at the enterprise level.

NACE Rev.2 Sections A (Agriculture, forestry and fishing), T (Activities of households as employers) and U (Activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies) are not covered in the survey as most employment in these sectors is not enterprise based.

All enterprises with 50 or more employees and a sample of those with 3 to 49 employees are surveyed each quarter. The sample is based on the proportion of companies in each NACE 2 digit economic sectors in the 3 to 49 size classes (3 to 9, 10 to 19 and 20 to 49).

Earnings in the public sector are calculated before the deduction of the pension levy that was introduced in March 2009.

Quarter 1 and 2 of 2011 and 2016 include temporary Census field staff in all outputs. Due to the large numbers involved a table is published which illustrates the effects of the field staff on earnings, hours and employment.

Data Collection

The survey is conducted by post and questionnaires are issued in the last week of the relevant quarter. Some returns are received electronically. All returns are scrutinised for accuracy. Where appropriate, firms are queried by telephone, email or post regarding incompleteness, apparent inconsistencies, etc. Information about the survey is on the CSO website and all questionnaires and instructions are available electronically there.

Differences with discontinued sources

The EHECS is not directly comparable with other discontinued short-term earnings surveys such as the Quarterly Industrial Inquiry (QII), the Quarterly Services Inquiry (QSI) and the Quarterly Earnings and Hours worked in Construction (QEC).  The main differences are:

The EHECS collects data on the entire reference quarter while the QII, QSI and QEC only collected data for a reference week in the quarter.

  • Data on earnings and labour costs per hour is generally presented on the basis of hours paid and worked in the EHECS.  Data on earnings per hour was presented on the basis of hours paid (including paid leave) in the QII.
  • The EHECS uses a standardised form for all NACE sectors with a standard occupational classification for all enterprises while the QII, QSI and QEC surveys had their own occupational classifications. However the EHECS category “Production, Craft and other Manual workers” corresponds broadly to the “Industrial” category in the QII; the EHECS category “Clerical, Sales and Service Workers” also corresponds broadly to the QII category “Clerical and other office staff”; the QII category “Managerial and technical staff” is largely equivalent to the EHECS category “Managers, Professional and Associated Professionals”.
  • The EHECS collects data for enterprises while the QII collected data for local units.
  • Data on hours is collected for all categories of employees in the EHECS, while such data was limited to the industrial workers in the QII, non-managerial employees in the QEC and not collected at all in the QSI.
  • The earnings data collected for the EHECS includes irregular earnings, irregular bonuses, etc while these items were excluded from the QII, QSI and QEC which only collected data on regular earnings (including regular bonuses) and overtime.
  • Non-labour costs such as employers PRSI, other social costs, benefit in kind etc., are collected for the EHECS but were not collected for the QII, QSI and QEC surveys.
  • Data on employees in the QII, QSI and QEC was collected with regard to the reference week. In the EHECS employment data is collected with regard to the first and last day of the quarter.

 

Definitions

Registered Employment:

Registered employment refers to the employment of respondent enterprises at the end of the reference quarter. For non-respondent enterprises and enterprises not in the sample, registered employment refers to the employment from the Business Register. The Business Register base enterprise employment on data from the latest revenue P35 files. The Business Register has a lag of between 12 and 18 months between the current quarter and the latest revenue P35 file. For this reason the Business Register is not a suitable measure of short term trends in employment. Thus, sectoral registered employment is adjusted to reflect the trends of the QNHS sectoral employment. The QNHS is designed to measure short term changes in employment. 

Average Employment

For respondent enterprises average employment refers to the average of the quarters opening employment and closing employment. This variable is used as the denominator in calculating average earnings per person and average paid hours per person.

All Employees

All persons who have a direct employment contract with an enterprise as employees, who receive wages or salaries. Persons not working for salary e.g. family members, directors, partners, outside pieceworker’s, etc. are not considered employees but other persons engaged. These workers are included separately but not used in the calculation of derived variables. All employment figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.

Full-time Employees

Employees whose regular working hours are the same as the collectively agreed or customary hours worked in the enterprise, irrespective of the duration of the employment contract. Full-time employment often comes with benefits that are not typically offered to part-time, temporary, or flexible workers, such as annual leave, sick leave, and health insurance.

Part-time Employees

Employees whose regular working hours are less than the collectively agreed or customary hours worked in the enterprise. The definition of part-time varies from enterprise to enterprise but in general part-time employees work 80% or less of the regular hours of the enterprise. 

Apprentices/Trainees

All persons, both full-time or part-time, whose wages or salaries are governed by the fact that they work either under an apprenticeship contract or as part of a training program. 

Category of employees by occupation

For some enterprises information was collected separately for three occupational groups. The three groups are:

1. Managers, Administrators, Professionals and Associate Professionals.

2. Clerical, Sales and Service workers.

3. Production, Transport workers, Craft & Tradespersons and other Manual workers.

Wages and Salaries

All wages and salaries payments are gross (i.e. before deduction of income tax and employees’ PRSI contributions and levies such as the public sector pension levy).  In the analysis, the total wages and salaries are divided into: 

- Regular earnings: payments made regularly at each pay period during the year, excluding all irregular and overtime earnings.

- Overtime earnings: payment for hours worked in excess of normal hours.

- Total earnings excluding irregular earnings: regular earnings + overtime earnings.

- Irregular earnings: bonuses which are not paid regularly at each pay period. For example: end of quarter or year productivity bonus.

- Apprentices/Trainees earnings: total of apprentices & trainees' regular wages and salaries, overtime and irregular bonuses and allowances.

- Total earnings: total of regular earnings, overtime earnings and irregular earnings.

Other Labour Costs

Other labour costs are costs to the employer, in addition to wages and salaries, of employing labour. They include the below categories:

- Statutory social contributions: statutory employers’ PRSI including the social security contributions for apprentices/trainees.

- Non-statutory social contributions: payments made by enterprises on behalf of their employees which include pension fund contributions, life assurance premiums, income continuance insurance as well as other employee related payments.

- Other expenses: other employee related payments e.g. study grants, etc.

- Benefits in kind (BIK); net cost of all goods and services made available to employees by the employer. For example, payments for private use of company cars, stock options & share purchase schemes, voluntary sickness insurance, staff housing and other free or subsidised benefits (e.g. canteen facilities, childcare provision, health costs). BIK is included as earnings by Eurostat for the Labour Costs Survey and the Labour Costs Index.

- Redundancy payments.

- Subsidies and refunds: amounts received by enterprises intended to refund part or all of the cost of wages and salaries and training costs. These may include training subsidies from SOLAS or Job Bridge as well as refunds from the Department of Social Protection (DSP) for sick and maternity leave. These are deducted from the firms’ labour costs in the analysis.

Paid Hours

- Regular paid hours: These are normal working hours of employees, usually specified in the contract of employment and should include paid leave e.g. paid sick leave and annual leave.

- Overtime paid hours: Hours worked in excess of contracted hours.  

- Total paid hours: Sum of regular paid hours and overtime paid hours.

Job Vacancies

Respondents are asked to provide the number of job vacancies in their firm as at the last working day of the quarter. A job vacancy is defined as a newly created post, an unoccupied post or post about to become vacant in the near future, where the employer is actively looking for (i.e. advertising, contacting employment agencies, etc.) and willing to recruit a suitable candidate immediately or very soon. The posts must be open to external candidates, although it may be filled by an internal candidate. Due to one off recruitments by individual firms and a low number of firms reporting vacancies, the job vacancies series can be volatile and should be interpreted with caution.  Job vacancy information is collected by the Central Statistics Office under EU regulation (EC) No. 453/2008. For more information on job vacancies please see the link below.

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/labour-market/job-vacancies

Job Vacancy Rate

The job vacancy rate (JVR) measures the proportion of total posts that are vacant, according to the definition of job vacancy above, expressed as a percentage as follows

Job Vacancy Rate = ( Number of job vacancies / Number of occupied jobs + Number of job vacancies ) * 100

National Minimum Wage (NMW)

The National Minimum Wage Act 2000 became law on the 1st April 2000. Enterprises are asked to indicate the number of employees in receipt of the NMW at the end of each quarter. A detailed guide to the Act is available from the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at www.djei.ie. Employees earning less than the minimum wage due to age or training status are also included. These rates do not apply to close relatives of the employer or apprentices other than apprentice hairdressers.

 

Derived Variables

Employment

The sum of full-time employees and part-time employees on the last day of the quarter plus the average number of apprentices engaged during the quarter.

Average Weekly Earnings 

Total earnings for the quarter divided by the average number of persons employed during the quarter divided by 13  (number of weeks in a quarter).

Average Hourly Earnings

The sum of regular earnings, irregular earnings, and overtime earnings for the quarter divided by total paid hours for the quarter.

Average Hourly Irregular Earnings

Total irregular earnings in the quarter divided by total paid hours for the quarter.

Average Weekly Paid Hours

Total paid hours for the quarter divided by the average number of persons employed during the quarter divided by 13 (number of weeks in a quarter).  Unpaid hours worked (including unpaid overtime) and unpaid leave are excluded.

Average Hourly Other Labour Costs

The sum of other labour costs divided by total paid hours for the quarter. Other labour costs include redundancy payments, employers’ contributions to social security, other social costs, benefit in kind and other labour costs.  Subsidies and refunds received were deducted.

Average Hourly Total Labour Costs

Hourly labour costs are total labour costs divided by the total number of hours paid during the quarter.

Annual Data

Annualised results are available as a separate release, details of which are available on the CSO website.  

http://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/elca/earningsandlabourcostsannualdata2015/

Methodology for production of quarterly results

Production of EHECS Data

All enterprises with 50 or more employees are surveyed quarterly as well as a sample of enterprises which have between 3 and 49 employees inclusive. For enterprises with 3 to 49 employees inclusive, a weighting factor (the reciprocal of the sampling fraction) is used to weight the estimates to the total population for both employees and enterprises. The CSO's Business Register forms the basis of the sampling frame used for weighting the sample data to the population. Decay factors are calculated for each size class and sector to adjust the non-sampled element of the register for the respondent non-relevant enterprises.

Imputation is carried out for non-respondents in the greater than 50 employees’ categories. Where an enterprise responded in the previous quarter ratio-imputation is used to estimate figures for the current quarter. For enterprises that did not respond in the previous four quarters a stratum average imputation method is used to estimate the missing variables. These estimates are based on respondent enterprises of a similar size and activity.

After imputation, all enterprises with 50 or more employees are accounted for and included in the final dataset. All enterprises employing between 3 and 49 employees are allocated grossing factors to represent the entire population for their relevant industry sector and size class in the quarter. All enterprises' data are contained in the final quarterly dataset which is tabulated to produce the aggregates which are published in the Earnings and Labour Costs quarterly release.

Interpretation of Results

The series presented in this release and all estimates deriving from the EHECS survey are primarily of use as an indicator of trends in average earnings across different classifications. However, in interpreting the trends and in undertaking direct comparison of the average level of earnings across sectors, some caution in interpretation is warranted. For example, the results presented here are based on raw earnings levels. To get a true picture of differences in earnings levels of different employees, comparisons should take account of differences in the characteristics of employees, such as length of service, educational attainment level, nature of work, etc., none of which are available via EHECS. The additional information available from the National Employment Survey (NES) allows for a more detailed analysis of differences in earnings levels and should be referred to by users seeking more detailed information on earnings determinants than is available from EHECS.

Seasonal Adjustment

To correct for typical seasonal patterns, the series presented in Table 4 have been seasonally adjusted. Since Quarter 1 2015 seasonal adjustment of earnings and labour costs data is completed by applying the X-13-ARIMA model, developed by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Seasonal adjustment is conducted using the direct approach, where each individual series (average weekly earnings, average weekly paid hours, average hourly earnings, average hourly irregular earnings, average hourly other labour costs and average hourly total labour costs) is independently adjusted for each sector.

As a result of the direct seasonal adjustment approach employed, it should be noted that the sum of any component series may not be equal to seasonally adjusted series to which these components belong. For example, the seasonally adjusted average hourly earnings and seasonally adjusted other labour costs will not necessarily add up to the seasonally adjusted average total labour costs.

The X-13 ARIMA method has the X-11 moving averages process at its core, but builds on this by providing options for pre-treating the series using a regARIMA approach for prior adjustment and series extension. In essence this methodology will estimate seasonal factors while taking account of calendar effects (e.g timing of Easter), outliers, temporary changes and level shifts.

All earnings series are updated quarterly with the entire seasonally adjusted series from Q1 2008 as part of the concurrent approach. A comprehensive review of the seasonal adjustment specification is carried annually where revisions to the entire series are made. Revisions to the series are typically very minor in scale.

Occupational Category Estimates

From Q2 2010 a sub-sample of EHECS respondents has been used to generate earnings and hours estimates by three broad occupational categories.

Results are derived by utilising a matched sample of enterprises between consecutive quarters to generate quarterly updates to the previous quarters earnings. An estimated series is included in table A1. Given the number of enterprises involved it is only possible to produce reliable estimates when the sectors are grouped. Earnings for the broad occupational groups are therefore presented by the following amalgamations:

  • B-E                  Industry
  • B-N/R-S           All NACE sectors from Industry to Administrative and support service activities inclusive, plus Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities
  • O-Q                 All NACE sectors from Public administration and defence to Human health and social work activities, inclusive
  • B-S                  All NACE sectors

Review of Preliminary Versus Final Data

A detailed review of preliminary estimates and final data was undertaken to ascertain the extent of change between both sets of results.  The review focused on response rates, scale of revision at NACE sectoral level and significant changes in trends.  The findings of the review indicate that the preliminary figures can be accepted as a suitable indicator for quarterly trends. Analysis of the results for individual NACE sectors highlighted that the change from preliminary to final data was broadly in the range of plus or minus 5%. However, as response rates can impact on the quality of data at the sectoral level, it is advisable to be aware of this when interpreting preliminary results. In the quarterly release table A3 contains the differences between preliminary and final data for the most recent reported quarter, while table A2 highlights response rates.

Labour Cost Index (LCI)

Results of EHECS are compiled and transmitted to Eurostat for inclusion in the Labour Cost Index. The quarterly Labour Cost Index (LCI) shows the short-term development of the total hourly costs incurred by the employers of maintaining their employees. In other words, the LCI measures the costs arising from the production factor 'labour'. The LCI covers the economic activities of industry and services (including public administration). The reference year of the index is 2008. The labour cost index data is collected by EU Member States and is transmitted to Eurostat. In addition to the index numbers, Eurostat provides annual and quarterly growth rates of labour cost. Further labour cost index information and data is available through the Eurostat website:

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/labour-market/labour-costs/database

Public Sector Employment

There are two CSO surveys which can potentially provide information on public sector employment. The Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) can provide estimates based on all respondents who are in employment being asked whether they work in the public sector or not. The EHECS, which is the source of the quarterly Earnings and Labour Costs data, provides estimates based on responses from the employer. Specifically in the case of EHECS there is a response level of close to 80% for public sector employers over time.

Based on the higher response levels and lower levels of subjectivity associated with EHECS the CSO believes it offers a more reliable source for public sector number estimates over time and the CSO publishes data from EHECS as the primary series on public sector numbers. Table 8e contains the estimates of public sector numbers broken down by the different high level areas within the public sector.

Public Sector Organisations

Public sector organisations consists of the following:

  • Civil Service
  • Defence
  • Garda Síochána
  • Education
  • Regional bodies
  • Health
  • Semi State, both commercial and non-commercial

Financial Crisis Related Bodies

Nationalised banks are in temporary public ownership resulting from the financial crisis, their employment and earnings data are excluded from Public Sector earnings and employment figures, this is in order to maintain the stability of the series. Their data is reflected in the appropriate NACE sector.

 

 

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