Average Hourly Total Labour Costs Rose 1.4 Percent to €25.72 in 2016
Average weekly earnings were €716.07 in Quarter four of 2016, a rise of 0.6% from €712.02 one year earlier according to preliminary estimates released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Monday, Final data for average weekly earnings in Quarter three were €702.69 and showed an increase of 1.3% over the same period in 2015.
The preliminary report also showed that average hourly total labour costs were €25.72 in the fourth quarter of 2016, a rise of 1.4% from the value of €25.37 one year previously. Average hourly earnings increased by 1.1% between Q4 2015 and Q4 2016, rising from €21.92 to €22.16, while average weekly paid hours were 32.3 in Q4 2016, a 0.6% decrease from the same period the year before.
The sector with the highest average hourly total labour costs was Education with a rate of €37.41, followed by the Information and communication sector at €36.80. The sectors with the lowest cost of employing labour were the Accommodation and food service activities sector with average hourly earnings of €13.99 and the Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities sector with €18.98. The largest percentage increase in average hourly total labour costs was seen in the Professional, scientific and technical activities sector, rising by 4.5% from €28.73 to €30.02 per hour. The Public administration and defence sector recorded the largest percentage decrease in average hourly total labour costs, decreasing by 1.4% from €27.76 to €27.37. Seasonally adjusted average hourly total labour costs increased by 0.3% in the quarter to Q4 2016.
In the year to Q4 2016 the average hourly total labour costs in firms with less than 50 employees increased by 2.8% (from €20.57 to €21.14), while there was a 0.4% decrease for firms with 50 to 250 employees (from €23.47 to €23.37). Enterprises with greater than 250 employees recorded an increase of 1.1% in average hourly total labour costs over the same period (from €29.34 to €29.67).
The public sector average hourly total labour costs increased 0.1% in the year to Q4 2016, from €31.30 to €31.34 while the private sector recorded an increase in average hourly total labour costs of 2.1% from €23.63 to €24.12 in the year.
Large variations in earnings were recorded across the sectors. The highest average weekly earnings of €1,063.30 were in the Information and Communication sector, followed by the Financial, insurance and real estate sector at €1,021.00. The lowest average weekly earnings were €339.66 in the Accommodation and food services sector and €474.97 in the Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities sector.
Average weekly earnings increased in nine of the thirteen sectors in the economy in the year to Q4 2016. The largest percentage increase was 5.4% in the Professional, scientific and technical activities sector, where average weekly earnings, rose from €829.03 to €874.13 in the year to Q4 2016. Average weekly earnings rose by 4.7% in the Accommodation and food services sector between the fourth quarter of 2015 and 2016,
Both the Education and Human health and social work sectors experienced annual decreases of 1.2% and 1.0% respectively.
Average weekly earnings in the private sector showed an increase of 1.4% from €649.52 to €658.30 in the year to Q4 2016. There was a decrease in average weekly earnings in the public sector (including semi-state) of 0.7%, from €927.83 to €921.74 over the same time period.
In the five years up to Q4 2016 average weekly earnings rose by 2.4%, from €699.19 in Q4 2011 to €716.07. There were large differences in the changes to average weekly earnings across individual sectors over this time period, ranging between -7.8% in the Education sector to +12.2% in the Professional, scientific and technical activities sector.
