Earned incomes were higher in 2016 as the level of education increased for persons who were working for payment or profit and aged 18 and over. The median earned income for those with a Ph. D was €60,912, nearly five times higher than the median of €14,684 for a person with no education, see Figure 5.1.
In 2016 the median earned income for all persons working for payment or profit aged 18 and over was €26,000 (see Table 5.1).
Note that earned income in this chapter includes income from employment and self-employment and was not adjusted for hours worked, see Background and Methodology for further details.
| Level of education | Median earned income |
|---|---|
| No education | 14684 |
| Primary | 15165 |
| Lower secondary | 19809 |
| Upper secondary | 19978 |
| Technical | 20717 |
| Advanced certficate | 26940 |
| Higher certificate | 26506 |
| Ordinary degree | 32193 |
| Honours degree | 37830 |
| Postgraduate | 46916 |
| Ph.D | 60912 |
Males aged 18 and over had higher earned incomes than females aged 18 and over across all levels of education, see Figure 5.2 and Table 5.1. Note that this comparison is not adjusted for hours worked which accounts for some of the difference in incomes.
The highest gender difference was for persons with lower secondary education, where females had an earned income of €13,834, 57.5% of that for males at €24,077.
The lowest gender differences were for those who had a Ph.D. Females with an Ph.D had median earned income of €53,091, 77.2% of the income for males of €68,773.
The median earned income for all females working and aged 18 and over was €22,799 in 2016, which was 78.3% of the value for males of €29,127, see Table 5.1.
| Level of education | Male median earned income | Female median earned income |
|---|---|---|
| Ph.D or higher | 68773 | 53091 |
| Postgraduate | 55815 | 42418 |
| Honours degree | 44482 | 34258 |
| Ordinary bachelor | 38173 | 28148 |
| Higher certificate | 32444 | 22693 |
| Advanced certficate | 31560 | 18827 |
| Technical | 24461 | 17892 |
| Upper secondary | 23298 | 17010 |
| Lower secondary | 24077 | 13834 |
| Primary | 17412 | 11847 |
| No education | 17169 | 11147 |
The proportion of those educated to Ph.D level who received any working age social welfare in 2016 was 15.5%, see Figure 5.3, compared to more than half (53.6%) of those who had no education.
Note that working age social welfare is defined here to exclude child benefit and the state pension.
| Level of education | Proportion receiving working age social welfare |
|---|---|
| No education | 53.6 |
| Primary | 38.1 |
| Lower secondary | 39.6 |
| Upper secondary | 31 |
| Technical | 38.3 |
| Advanced certficate | 30.7 |
| Higher certificate | 29.9 |
| Ordinary bachelor | 24.3 |
| Honours degree | 21.2 |
| Postgraduate | 19.7 |
| Ph.D | 15.5 |
Those who held an honours degree qualification as their highest level of education and were working in Dublin City had a median earned income of €44,664 in 2016, the highest in the country, followed by South Dublin (€44,479) and Cork County (€43,861), see Map 5.1.
Counties of work with the lowest medians for honours degree holders were Carlow (€34,326), Donegal (€34,537) and Galway City (€34,546).
Table 5.2 shows median earned income per person working by highest level of education achieved and county of work in 2016.
Link to interactive tables: Statbank
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