Median weekly earnings were €699.28 in 2023, an increase of 4.2% from €670.90 in 2022.
In 2023, median weekly earnings for males were €770.52 compared with €623.22 for females.
The economic sectors with the highest median weekly earnings were Information & Communication (€1,356.59) and Financial, Insurance & Real Estate (€977.34). The lowest median weekly earnings were recorded for the Accommodation & Food sector, at €364.31, in 2023.
Median weekly earnings were recorded at €793.71 for Dublin in 2023, which was 13.5% higher than the median weekly earnings for the State at €699.28 and 40.0% higher than Donegal which, at €567.04, had the lowest median weekly earnings.
Indian nationals were the only nationality cohort in which the median weekly earnings among females (€908.44) were higher than those of males (€849.68), while the gap between male and female weekly earnings was largest among UK nationals.
The 40-49 years age group recorded the highest overall median weekly earnings at €855.39 in 2023, a 4.3% increase on the equivalent figure in 2022 of €819.75.
The Earnings Analysis using Administrative Data Sources (EAADS) publication presents earnings statistics compiled based on administrative data sources. The primary data source is the Revenue Commissioner’s employee tax data. This is linked to the CSO Business Register and other data to provide economic and demographic breakdowns of employee earnings in Ireland. The data used for this analysis has been restricted to employments that were active in the month of October 2022.
In cases where differences in rounding compared with previously published results are observed, please note that the differences are minimal and are due to the use of new statistical software.
| X-axis label | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 3.5 | 2.3 | 3 |
| 2019 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.4 |
| 2020 | 3.7 | 7.3 | 5.2 |
| 2021 | 3.1 | 1.6 | 2.4 |
| 2022 | 4.2 | 4 | 4.1 |
| 2023 | 3.9 | 5.1 | 4.2 |
| Table 1.1 Median1 weekly earnings by sex, 2018 - 2023 | ||||||||||
| Sex | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | Annual Change (2022 - 2023) | Five Year Change (2018 - 2023) | ||
| € | € | € | € | € | € | % | % | |||
| Male | 636.63 | 666.22 | 690.56 | 711.87 | 741.86 | 770.52 | 3.9 | 21.0 | ||
| Female | 500.00 | 523.10 | 561.23 | 570.22 | 592.92 | 623.22 | 5.1 | 24.6 | ||
| Total | 573.35 | 598.36 | 629.46 | 644.55 | 670.90 | 699.28 | 4.2 | 22.0 | ||
| Source: CSO Ireland, Earnings Analysis using Administrative Data Sources | ||||||||||
| 1Median weekly earnings: Half of the employments earn more than this amount and half earn less. | ||||||||||
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (02 September 2024) issued Earnings Analysis using Administrative Data Sources for 2023.
Commenting on the data, Dr Eimear Heffernan, Statistician in the Earnings Analysis Division of the CSO, said: “Median weekly earnings rose by 4.2% from €670.90 in 2022 to €699.28 in 2023. The median weekly earnings among males (€770.52) were 23.6% higher than females (€623.22) in 2023.
The highest median weekly earnings were recorded in the Information & Communication (€1,356.59) and Financial, Insurance & Real Estate (€977.34) sectors in 2023, while the lowest median weekly earnings were among employments in the Accommodation & Food (€364.31) and Arts, Entertainment, Recreation & Other Services (€426.66) sectors (See Table 3.3).
More than one-fifth (21.7%) of all employments earned less than €400 per week in 2023. Employments earning between €400 and €800 per week accounted for 36.4% of all employments. Almost one-third (30.9%) of employments had weekly earnings between €800 and €1,600, while a further 11.0% of employments earned €1,600 or more per week.
Earnings by County
Median weekly earnings were recorded at €793.71 for Dublin in 2023, which was 13.5% higher than the median weekly earnings for the State at €699.28 and 40.0% higher than Donegal which, at €567.04, had the lowest median weekly earnings.
The largest increase in median weekly earnings was recorded in Longford, where earnings rose by 5.4% from €602.02 in 2022 to €634.62 in 2023. There was also a notable annual increase in median weekly earnings in counties Wexford (5.3%) and Donegal (5.0%). Increases in median weekly earnings were less pronounced in Carlow and Leitrim, where weekly earnings rose by 3.5% and 2.9%, respectively (See Table 6.2).
Earnings by Nationality
Indian nationals had the highest median weekly earnings in 2023 at €883.74, followed by those from the United Kingdom (€745.71), and Irish nationals (€728.03). Indian nationals accounted for 2.6% of total employments, up 0.5 percentage points since 2022, with almost half of those employments (47.8%) recorded in the Human Health & Social Work (31.4%) and Information & Communication (16.4%) sectors.
Irish nationals accounted for 73.8% of the total employments in 2023, down 1.7 percentage points in the year since 2022. Almost one-third (30.6%) of employments held by Irish nationals were in the Wholesale & Retail Trade (15.8%) and the Human Health & Social Work (14.8%) sectors.
The median weekly earnings of Irish males (€811.71) were 25.8% higher than those of Irish females (€645.49). Indian nationals were the only nationality cohort in which the weekly earnings among females (€908.44) were higher than those of males (€849.68), while the gap between male and female weekly earnings was largest among UK nationals (See Table 5.5).”