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Earnings Analysis using Administrative Data Sources 2021

Annual Earnings

Median annual earnings were €41,222 in 2021

Online ISSN: 2009-9886

CSO statistical publication, 05 May 2023, 11am

Impact of COVID-19 on Earnings Statistics

The COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions applied in response to it had a significant impact on the labour market in 2020 and 2021. Earnings statistics for those years and comparisons with earlier years are impacted by changes in the composition of the labour market across 2020 and 2021 and when compared to 2019 and earlier years. The level of earnings has also been impacted by the COVID-19 income support schemes in place in 2020 and 2021.

Please note: Employees who worked for less than 50 weeks in the reference year are excluded from the calculations for annual earnings. This is done to improve comparability of the data over time. Typically, the proportion of employments retained for annual earnings analysis is relatively consistent at both the total economy and economic sector level. However due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the labour market, the proportion of employments retained for annual earnings analysis in 2021 is lower than in previous years, specifically for those sectors most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. For further information on the impact of COVID-19 on the labour market and on earnings statistics please see:Impact of COVID-19 on the Labour Market.

Median Annual Earnings

Median annual earnings were highest in the Information & Communication sector at €66,082 in 2021, with median earnings for males in the sector at €71,271 and females at €56,012. The lowest median annual earnings were in the Accommodation & Food Services sector at €23,795 where median annual earnings were €26,224 for males and €21,556 for females.

Mean annual earnings were also highest in the Information & Communication sector in 2021 at €85,336, an increase of 10.8% from €77,003 in 2020 and an increase of 18.8% from €71,832 in 2019. The lowest 2-year increase in mean annual earnings was in the Transportation and Storage sector, which saw an increase of 0.2% between 2019 and 2021 from €44,513 to €44,621. The lowest mean annual earnings in 2021 was recorded in the Accommodation & Food Services sector at €26,872. See Tables 8.1 to 8.7 and Figure 8.1.

X-axis label	Male	Female
2013	36907	29526
2014	36999	29857
2015	37038	30272
2016	37328	30507
2017	37960	31153
2018	39279	32014
2019	40517	33056
2020	44105	37462
2021	44892	37894

Table 8.1 Mean and median annual earnings by sex, 2016-2021

Table 8.2 Mean annual earnings by economic sector, public/private sector status and sex, 2019-2021

Table 8.2 Mean annual earnings by economic sector, public/private sector status and sex, 2019-2021
Economic sector		Male			Female			Total			Annual Change (%)
		Male			Female			Total			Annual Change (%)
		2019	2020	2021	2019	2020	2021	2019	2020	2021	2020	2021
		€	€	€	€	€	€	€	€	€
B-E	Industry	54,731	58,297	59,574	45,495	49,884	51,395	52,203	55,955	57,299	7.2	2.4
F	Construction	43,907	49,142	49,684	28,691	33,282	33,592	41,953	46,904	47,504	11.8	1.3
G	Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles	41,495	44,338	45,232	27,990	31,319	31,908	35,016	38,311	39,167	9.4	2.2
H	Transportation and storage	46,595	46,368	46,389	37,387	37,232	38,061	44,513	44,339	44,621	-0.4	0.6
I	Accommodation and food services	25,543	29,647	29,420	19,737	24,369	24,036	22,560	27,235	26,872	20.7	-1.3
J	Information and communication	77,405	81,532	90,488	61,030	68,370	75,596	71,832	77,003	85,336	7.2	10.8
K-L	Financial, insurance and real estate	76,582	78,591	82,193	50,881	54,180	56,284	63,251	66,217	69,000	4.7	4.2
M	Professional, scientific and technical activities	64,207	66,064	69,361	44,938	47,862	49,696	54,718	57,267	59,868	4.7	4.5
N	Administrative and support services	44,154	46,001	47,536	32,138	35,407	36,594	39,061	41,562	42,913	6.4	3.3
O	Public administration and defence	55,449	56,506	57,564	46,867	47,959	49,623	51,867	52,874	54,168	1.9	2.4
P	Education	56,609	58,348	58,860	47,790	49,139	49,487	50,213	51,644	52,028	2.8	0.7
Q	Human health and social work	48,108	49,790	49,066	38,086	40,754	41,011	40,339	42,881	42,915	6.3	0.1
R-S	Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities	35,317	40,425	41,383	24,029	31,039	31,161	28,515	35,496	35,915	24.5	1.2
Total		51,630	56,171	57,348	38,862	43,693	44,433	45,375	50,076	51,068	10.4	2.0
Of which:
	Public sector¹	59,845	61,178	61,384	48,469	50,281	51,081	52,864	54,479	55,019	3.1	1.0
	Private sector	49,745	54,810	56,288	34,573	40,029	40,770	42,926	48,331	49,535	12.6	2.5
Source: CSO Ireland, Earnings Analysis using Administrative Data Sources
¹Public sector including semi-state companies. See Background Notes for further information.

Open in Excel: Earnings Analysis using Administrative Data sources 2021 Table 8.2 (XLS 13KB)

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Table 8.3 Median annual earnings by economic sector, public/private sector status and sex, 2019-2021

Table 8.3 Median¹ annual earnings by economic sector, public/private sector status and sex, 2019-2021
Economic sector		Male			Female			Total			Annual Change (%)
		Male			Female			Total			Annual Change (%)
		2019	2020	2021	2019	2020	2021	2019	2020	2021	2020	2021
		€	€	€	€	€	€	€	€	€
B-E	Industry	43,695	46,437	47,646	36,542	40,199	41,300	41,654	44,584	45,804	7.0	2.7
F	Construction	39,105	42,353	43,600	25,341	29,583	30,275	37,502	40,601	41,760	8.3	2.9
G	Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles	32,231	33,632	34,804	22,381	24,702	25,385	27,442	29,539	30,476	7.6	3.2
H	Transportation and storage	40,348	41,597	41,666	33,721	32,045	33,383	38,693	39,548	39,972	2.2	1.1
I	Accommodation and food services	23,393	26,252	26,224	18,318	22,228	21,556	20,576	24,298	23,795	18.1	-2.1
J	Information and communication	63,488	66,436	71,271	48,041	52,725	56,012	58,000	61,632	66,082	6.3	7.2
K-L	Financial, insurance and real estate	57,941	59,941	63,000	41,446	43,833	45,420	47,776	50,305	52,350	5.3	4.1
M	Professional, scientific and technical activities	48,963	50,000	52,805	35,500	37,547	38,902	41,667	43,311	45,394	3.9	4.8
N	Administrative and support services	32,916	33,621	34,845	25,772	28,092	28,519	30,418	31,594	32,618	3.9	3.2
O	Public administration and defence	50,263	51,166	52,427	43,516	44,503	46,023	47,232	48,212	49,507	2.1	2.7
P	Education	54,928	56,278	56,517	44,867	45,963	46,304	47,754	48,664	48,791	1.9	0.3
Q	Human health and social work	38,576	39,885	40,003	35,461	37,730	38,087	36,106	38,213	38,517	5.8	0.8
R-S	Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities	27,725	30,808	31,596	20,085	26,444	26,041	22,800	28,493	28,568	25.0	0.3
Total		40,517	44,105	44,892	33,056	37,462	37,894	37,001	40,579	41,222	9.7	1.6
Of which:
	Public sector²	53,075	53,835	54,363	44,810	46,576	47,263	47,782	49,285	49,931	3.1	1.3
	Private sector	37,345	40,698	41,670	27,182	31,292	31,452	32,763	36,276	37,010	10.7	2.0
Source: CSO Ireland, Earnings Analysis using Administrative Data Sources
¹Median annual earnings: Half of the employees earn more than this amount and half earn less.
²Public sector including semi-state companies. See Background Notes for further information.

Open in Excel: Earnings Analysis using Administrative Data sources 2021 Table 8.3 (XLS 13KB)

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Table 8.4 Mean annual earnings by age group and sex, 2019-2021

Table 8.5 Median annual earnings by age group and sex, 2019-2021

Table 8.6 Mean annual earnings by county and sex, 2019-2021

Table 8.6 Mean annual earnings by county and sex, 2019-2021
County	Male			Female			Total			Annual Change (%)
	Male			Female			Total			Annual Change (%)
	2019	2020	2021	2019	2020	2021	2019	2020	2021	2020	2021
	€	€	€	€	€	€	€	€	€
Carlow	42,523	45,932	46,986	33,774	38,366	38,224	38,408	42,260	42,861	10.0	1.4
Cavan	42,417	46,413	46,876	33,908	38,554	38,755	38,290	42,562	42,942	11.2	0.9
Clare	49,269	52,904	53,429	36,826	41,048	41,824	43,054	46,904	47,600	8.9	1.5
Cork	52,522	57,602	58,776	37,710	42,717	43,163	45,350	50,519	51,316	11.4	1.6
Donegal	36,934	42,025	41,299	31,945	37,385	37,363	34,362	39,573	39,288	15.2	-0.7
Dublin	59,906	64,734	67,406	44,453	49,461	51,151	52,429	57,366	59,548	9.4	3.8
Galway	47,818	51,388	52,473	38,097	42,392	42,847	42,905	46,842	47,618	9.2	1.7
Kerry	42,086	46,924	47,030	33,047	37,972	38,226	37,513	42,368	42,572	12.9	0.5
Kildare	56,106	59,620	61,528	40,215	44,555	45,437	48,542	52,499	53,924	8.2	2.7
Kilkenny	46,274	49,689	51,080	36,203	40,998	41,433	41,073	45,222	46,180	10.1	2.1
Laois	46,502	50,268	50,884	36,244	40,488	40,593	41,461	45,476	45,882	9.7	0.9
Leitrim	41,180	45,520	45,362	35,108	39,114	39,447	38,053	42,145	42,322	10.8	0.4
Limerick	48,965	53,103	53,999	36,667	41,265	41,715	43,034	47,457	48,158	10.3	1.5
Longford	40,219	42,553	43,593	33,963	36,398	37,990	37,167	39,493	40,884	6.3	3.5
Louth	45,535	49,391	49,875	34,946	39,633	39,772	40,430	44,714	45,057	10.6	0.8
Mayo	42,255	46,114	46,540	34,690	39,230	39,424	38,407	42,619	42,954	11.0	0.8
Meath	54,045	57,711	58,831	38,628	42,783	43,854	46,548	50,452	51,615	8.4	2.3
Monaghan	37,899	40,923	42,404	32,829	37,041	37,286	35,438	39,005	39,904	10.1	2.3
Offaly	43,643	47,051	47,473	34,517	39,185	39,260	39,243	43,238	43,564	10.2	0.8
Roscommon	43,159	46,967	47,494	35,710	39,815	40,280	39,387	43,315	43,858	10.0	1.3
Sligo	43,716	48,161	48,011	36,856	41,586	41,621	40,153	44,725	44,756	11.4	0.1
Tipperary	44,569	48,465	48,511	34,739	39,491	39,339	39,596	43,891	43,952	10.8	0.1
Waterford	46,206	50,272	50,806	34,924	39,515	39,683	40,689	45,019	45,460	10.6	1.0
Westmeath	45,648	49,901	50,403	36,092	40,506	41,113	41,028	45,330	45,969	10.5	1.4
Wexford	41,886	45,342	46,234	33,013	37,763	38,062	37,432	41,519	42,173	10.9	1.6
Wicklow	54,906	59,704	60,972	39,242	43,984	44,864	47,158	52,025	53,046	10.3	2.0
Total¹	51,630	56,171	57,348	38,862	43,693	44,433	45,375	50,076	51,068	10.4	2.0
Source: CSO Ireland, Earnings Analysis using Administrative Data Sources
¹Total includes Northern Ireland counties not listed above.

Open in Excel: Earnings Analysis using Administrative Data sources 2021 Table 8.6 (XLS 14KB)

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Table 8.7 Median annual earnings by county and sex, 2019-2021

Table 8.7 Median¹ annual earnings by county and sex, 2019-2021
County	Male			Female			Total			Annual Change (%)
	Male			Female			Total			Annual Change (%)
	2019	2020	2021	2019	2020	2021	2019	2020	2021	2020	2021
	€	€	€	€	€	€	€	€	€
Carlow	35,675	38,787	40,133	29,310	34,040	33,534	33,283	36,636	37,552	10.1	2.5
Cavan	35,833	39,038	39,788	29,948	34,748	34,739	33,236	37,001	37,497	11.3	1.3
Clare	39,781	42,775	43,474	32,028	36,509	37,083	36,203	39,692	40,299	9.6	1.5
Cork	42,404	46,287	47,102	32,427	36,812	37,133	37,569	41,442	42,000	10.3	1.3
Donegal	30,974	35,480	34,947	27,986	34,300	33,790	29,714	34,895	34,359	17.4	-1.5
Dublin	45,012	48,599	49,966	36,564	40,055	40,943	40,552	44,327	45,386	9.3	2.4
Galway	38,861	41,766	42,644	33,678	37,877	38,115	36,400	39,769	40,365	9.3	1.5
Kerry	35,024	39,560	40,055	28,336	33,488	33,717	31,897	36,569	37,053	14.6	1.3
Kildare	44,763	47,420	49,093	34,478	38,360	39,016	39,661	42,724	43,971	7.7	2.9
Kilkenny	38,552	41,288	42,598	32,733	37,298	37,746	35,611	39,212	40,083	10.1	2.2
Laois	39,313	41,752	42,775	32,419	37,004	36,898	36,216	39,544	40,022	9.2	1.2
Leitrim	35,057	39,274	39,143	31,677	36,498	36,674	33,503	37,956	37,866	13.3	-0.2
Limerick	39,787	43,381	43,859	31,779	36,403	36,617	35,874	39,811	40,307	11.0	1.2
Longford	34,249	35,674	36,999	29,828	32,356	33,971	32,392	34,325	35,626	6.0	3.8
Louth	37,929	40,977	41,472	30,587	35,027	35,004	34,567	38,121	38,571	10.3	1.2
Mayo	35,965	39,425	40,010	30,828	35,858	35,895	33,707	37,625	38,051	11.6	1.1
Meath	43,311	46,563	47,577	33,429	37,033	37,930	38,465	41,636	42,635	8.2	2.4
Monaghan	32,749	34,532	36,332	28,538	32,734	33,203	31,162	33,800	35,171	8.5	4.1
Offaly	36,856	39,633	40,417	30,353	35,106	35,000	34,143	37,664	38,155	10.3	1.3
Roscommon	36,950	40,123	40,632	31,730	36,372	37,017	34,588	38,352	38,948	10.9	1.6
Sligo	36,399	40,273	39,864	33,333	38,262	37,706	34,790	39,043	38,856	12.2	-0.5
Tipperary	36,665	40,134	40,309	30,364	35,078	35,000	33,748	37,620	37,851	11.5	0.6
Waterford	38,562	41,362	42,605	30,138	35,000	35,056	34,705	38,280	39,103	10.3	2.1
Westmeath	38,200	41,527	41,809	31,501	36,096	36,439	35,486	39,010	39,567	9.9	1.4
Wexford	35,025	37,643	39,014	28,797	33,326	33,752	32,172	35,585	36,536	10.6	2.7
Wicklow	42,338	46,200	47,174	33,188	37,500	37,949	37,825	41,423	42,191	9.5	1.9
Total²	40,517	44,105	44,892	33,056	37,462	37,894	37,001	40,579	41,222	9.7	1.6
Source: CSO Ireland, Earnings Analysis using Administrative Data Sources
¹Median annual earnings: Half of the employees earn more than this amount and half earn less.
²Total includes Northern Ireland counties not listed above.

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Table 8.4 Mean annual earnings by age group and sex, 2019-2021
Age group	Male			Female			Total			Annual Change (%)
	Male			Female			Total			Annual Change (%)
	2019	2020	2021	2019	2020	2021	2019	2020	2021	2020	2021
	€	€	€	€	€	€	€	€	€
15-24	22,363	24,629	24,971	19,216	22,133	22,207	20,786	23,414	23,645	12.6	1.0
25-29	37,451	40,670	42,370	33,627	37,720	38,810	35,599	39,233	40,638	10.2	3.6
30-39	49,579	54,121	55,941	40,978	45,889	46,848	45,477	50,195	51,634	10.4	2.9
40-49	60,242	64,724	65,647	44,073	49,055	49,806	52,355	57,059	57,901	9.0	1.5
50-59	60,235	64,662	65,283	40,636	45,057	45,794	50,325	54,786	55,550	8.9	1.4
60 and over	46,034	50,443	50,005	30,516	34,943	34,958	38,349	42,888	42,711	11.8	-0.4
Total	51,630	56,171	57,348	38,862	43,693	44,433	45,375	50,076	51,068	10.4	2.0
Source: CSO Ireland, Earnings Analysis using Administrative Data Sources

Table 8.5 Median¹ annual earnings by age group and sex, 2019-2021
Age group	Male			Female			Total			Annual Change (%)
	Male			Female			Total			Annual Change (%)
	2019	2020	2021	2019	2020	2021	2019	2020	2021	2020	2021
	€	€	€	€	€	€	€	€	€
15-24	21,078	23,300	23,532	17,857	20,665	20,657	19,422	22,009	22,130	13.3	0.5
25-29	33,716	36,160	37,756	31,664	35,221	36,317	32,767	35,743	37,108	9.1	3.8
30-39	41,354	45,018	46,036	36,725	41,081	41,529	39,312	43,227	44,015	10.0	1.8
40-49	47,222	51,233	51,596	36,914	41,084	41,512	41,855	46,070	46,573	10.1	1.1
50-59	46,039	49,310	49,582	33,793	37,651	38,049	39,189	42,528	42,985	8.5	1.1
60 and over	36,285	39,805	39,414	25,186	29,875	29,954	30,849	34,724	34,651	12.6	-0.2
Total	40,517	44,105	44,892	33,056	37,462	37,894	37,001	40,579	41,222	9.7	1.6
Source: CSO Ireland, Earnings Analysis using Administrative Data Sources
¹Median annual earnings: Half of the employees earn more than this amount and half earn less.

Earnings Analysis using Administrative Data Sources 2021

Annual Earnings

Annual Earnings

Median annual earnings were €41,222 in 2021

Impact of COVID-19 on Earnings Statistics

Median Annual Earnings

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Table 8.1 Mean and median¹ annual earnings by sex, 2016 - 2021
		2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	Annual Change (2020-2021)	Five Year Change (2016-2021)
		2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	Annual Change (2020-2021)	Five Year Change (2016-2021)
		€	€	€	€	€	€	%	%
Total employments	Mean	41,250	42,330	43,830	45,375	50,076	51,068	2.0	23.8
	Median	33,912	34,658	35,786	37,001	40,579	41,222	1.6	21.6

Male	Mean	47,108	48,214	49,931	51,630	56,171	57,348	2.1	21.7
	Median	37,328	37,960	39,279	40,517	44,105	44,892	1.8	20.3

Female	Mean	35,329	36,288	37,520	38,862	43,693	44,433	1.7	25.8
	Median	30,507	31,153	32,014	33,056	37,462	37,894	1.2	24.2
Source: CSO Ireland, Earnings Analysis using Administrative Data Sources
¹Median annual earnings: Half of the employees earn more than this amount and half earn less.