New preliminary estimates from the Central Statistics Office show that average weekly earnings stood at €921.81 in the fourth quarter of 2023, up 2.1% compared with €902.56 in the fourth quarter of 2022.
That rate of increase compares to an average inflation rate of 4.5% across the final three months of the year.
Today’s CSO figures also show that average hourly earnings rose by 2.1% to €28.43 in three months from October to December last year, from €27.85 during the same time in 2022.
The CSO said that average weekly earnings increased across 12 out of 13 sectors in the year to the fourth quarter, with the biggest annual percentage increase in average weekly earnings of 9.8% in the Arts, Entertainment, Recreation & Other Service Activities sector.
Average weekly paid hours amounted to 32.4 in the period under review, unchanged from the same time the previous year, the CSO added.
The CSO said that average hourly other labour costs rose by 7.4% across all economic sectors to €4.94 from €4.60, while average hourly total labour costs grew by 2.8%
It noted that the sector with the highest average hourly total labour costs was the Information & Communication sector at €55.18.
The lowest average total labour costs were in the Accommodation & Food Service Activities sector, which recorded a rate of €18.49.
Meanwhile, the CSO said the job vacancy rate at the end of 2023 was 1%, lower than the 1.3% recorded at the end of 2022, and down from 1.2% at the end of the third quarter of 2023.
Article Source – Weekly earnings rose at half the rate of inflation in fourth quarter – RTE