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Figures reveal one in ten workers on minimum wage last year

New figures show an average of one in 10 workers are earning the national minimum wage or less. A...
Newstalk
Newstalk

16.15 26 Apr 2017


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Figures reveal one in ten work...

Figures reveal one in ten workers on minimum wage last year

Newstalk
Newstalk

16.15 26 Apr 2017


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New figures show an average of one in 10 workers are earning the national minimum wage or less.

According to the latest report from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), 10.1% of employees who reported earnings earned the minimum wage or less last year.

The proportion who reported earning more than the minimum wage between Q2 and Q4 2016 was 89.9%.

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Source: CSO

The average number of employees who reported earning less than the minimum wage was 22,500, while 132,600 reported earnings equal to the minimum wage.

This means an average of 155,100 workers earned the minimum wage or less.

Of those who reported earning less than the minimum wage,  5,700 reported the reason was related to having a special training rate, while 5,800 reported that it was an age-related rate.

The results show women are more likely to earn the minimum wage or less.

Of the 155,100 employees who reported this, 84,400 or 54.4% were female - while 70,700 or 45.6% were male.

The services sector accounted for more than four out of five of all the employees who reported earning the minimum wage or less.

The wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles sector accounted for 25.9% of all employees who reported earning the minimum wage or less.

The accommodation and food services sector accounted for 24.7%.

Source: CSO

Almost two in five (37.9%) of those earning the minimum wage or less were in the 15-24 age group, and almost three in five persons (58.7%) were employed on a part-time basis.

The proportion of Irish employees in this category was 8.7%, compared to 17.3% of all non-Irish employees.

 In total, non-Irish nationals accounted for 28.2% on the minimum wage or less - while they accounted for 16.4% of all employees in the State.

Irish nationals accounted for 71.8% of all employees on the minimum wage or less, while they made up 83.6% of all employees.

Since January 1st 2017, the national minimum wage for an experienced adult employee is €9.25 per hour.


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