In 2022, females in one-parent families with children accounted for 7.1% of total female employments, while males in one-parent families with children made up 0.7% of total male employments. This was similar to 2016, when females in one-parent families accounted for 7.9% of total female employments and males in one-parent families accounted for 0.7% of total male employments.
Median weekly earnings were lowest for employments among one-parent families with children at €491.20 and highest for employments among married couples with children at €911.35.
Median weekly earnings among males in married couples were 35.3% higher than among males in one-parent families with children, while females in married couples with children had earnings 63.2% higher than their counterparts in one-parent families.
Weekly earnings were higher among males compared with females across all family unit types.
In general, the distribution of earnings among males in each family unit type followed a similar trend to the total male population, while a considerably higher proportion of females in one-parent families with children were at the lower end of the distribution, compared with other females.
This release presents statistics on earnings based on administrative data sources. The primary data sources are employee tax data from the Revenue Commissioners and the Census of Population (COP) 2016 and 2022. For the purposes of this publication, the 'population' refers to employments included in the Earnings Analysis Using Administrative Data Sources (EAADS) dataset of relevant reference years, where employees are aged 25 to 59 years, inclusive. In terms of family units with children, the reference person and their partner/spouse were identified by the Census of Population (COP) 2016 and 2022. For the purposes of this publication, the term 'parent' refers to reference persons and their partner/spouse who are aged 25 to 59 years and who have at least one child under the age of 18 normally resident in the family unit, as determined by COP. It is important to note that both partners in a couple may not be the parents of the resident children. Earnings analysis was possible through linkage of these individuals to the Earnings Analysis using Administrative Data Sources (EAADS) dataset for the relevant reference years. The EAADS dataset is created using the Revenue PMOD file. Further information on EAADS methodology is available in the Background Notes.
| Proportion of total employments among parents by family unit type, sex and corresponding median weekly earnings, 2022 | |||||||
| Family Unit Type | Proportion of Total Employments | Median Weekly Earnings | |||||
| Male | Female | Both Sexes | Male | Female | Both Sexes | ||
| % | € | ||||||
| Cohabiting couple with children | 5.5 | 5.4 | 5.5 | 802.40 | 588.05 | 707.35 | |
| Married couple with children | 30.7 | 30.4 | 30.6 | 1,085.17 | 748.50 | 911.35 | |
| One parent family with children | 0.7 | 7.1 | 3.9 | 801.83 | 458.53 | 491.20 | |
| Total EAADS employment population | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 832.83 | 678.95 | 761.05 | |
| Source: CSO Ireland, Earnings Analysis using Administrative Data Sources | |||||||
In 2022, females in one-parent families with children accounted for 7.1% of the total female employments, in contrast to males in one-parent families with children who accounted for 0.7% of the total male employments. In general, the proportion of females and males in both married and cohabiting couples with children were relatively equal.
Median weekly earnings among those in cohabiting couples with children and one-parent families with children were less than the weekly earnings of the total population of the corresponding sexes. The median weekly earnings were lowest among one-parent families with children for both males (€801.83) and females (€458.53) in 2022, while those in married couples with children had the highest weekly earnings (males: €1,085.17, females: €748.50).
Weekly earnings among males tended to be lower among those in cohabiting couples with children in both reference years. This is likely due to the greater proportion of males in this category in younger age groups, compared to males in married couples and one-parent families with children.
As is typical in earnings distributions, a relatively small number of high earners result in a positively skewed earnings distribution of employments in Ireland. In a positively skewed earnings distribution, mean earnings are greater than median earnings as the mean is increased by those higher earners. In such cases median earnings may be a more reflective figure of the average earnings of employments in the economy or sector.
The figure below presents the distribution of employments by weekly earnings, family unit type and sex. It shows that, in general, the distribution of earnings among males in each of the family unit types followed a similar trend to the total male population in 2022. There were, however, a greater proportion of males in married couples with children at the higher end of the distribution, compared to males in cohabiting couples and one-parent families with children.
The distribution of earnings was similar among females in married and cohabiting couples with children and the total female population. A considerably higher proportion of females in one-parent families with children were present at the lower end of the distribution, compared to other females.
Please note: Marital status was self-declared by individuals on Census of Population, 2016 and 2022.
Of the one-parent families with children, over half (57.4%) indicated a marital status of single (never married or never in a same-sex civil partnership) in 2022. This was the only marital status in which the proportion of females (59.2%) was greater than males (40.4%).
In 2022, among one-parent families with children, median weekly earnings of females were less than those of males across all marital status categories. Lowest weekly earnings among both males (€728.08) and females (€386.56) were recorded for employments in which the marital status of the employee was single. Median weekly earnings among males in one-parent families with children were relatively equal across the separated (€881.82), divorced (€873.77) and widowed (€865.38) categories, while weekly earnings among females in one-parent families with children who were separated (€576.88) and divorced (€568.42) were similar.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (02 July 2024) issued Earnings Among Parents in Ireland for 2016 and 2022.
Commenting on the data, Dr Eimear Heffernan, Statistician in the Earnings Analysis Division, said: "In 2022, females in one-parent families with children accounted for 7.1% of total female employments, while males in one-parent families with children made up 0.7% of total male employments.
Median weekly earnings were lowest for employments among one-parent families with children at €491.20 and highest for employments among married couples with children at €911.35. In 2022, median weekly earnings for employments among parents in married couples with children were 85.5% higher than those among one-parent families. This compares with 91.4% in 2016.
Median weekly earnings among males in married couples with children were 35.3% higher than males in one-parent families with children, while females in married couples with children had earnings 63.2% higher than their counterparts in one-parent families. Weekly earnings were higher among males compared with females across all family unit types.
Earnings Gap
In 2022, the largest earnings gap between female parents in married couples and one-parent families was in the 25-34 years age group where median weekly earnings among females in married couples with children were 102.2% higher than their one-parent counterparts. The disparity in earnings reduced with age, with the smallest gap in the 55-59 years age cohort with females in a married couple with children earning 18.7% more than those in one-parent families.
Earnings Distribution
In general, the distribution of earnings among males in each family unit type followed a similar trend to the total male population, while a considerably higher proportion of females in one-parent families with children were at the lower end of the distribution, compared with other females. In 2022, 15.9% of males in one-parent families had weekly earnings of less than €450 compared with 12.1% of the total male population. In contrast, almost half (49.1%) of females in one-parent families recorded weekly earnings of less than €450, which was considerably higher than the proportion of the total female population in this earnings bracket (26.0%)."