Irish teachers are amongst the best paid in the world, according to the OECD.
The 'Education At A Glance' report says the economic impact of 2008 had a direct impact on primary and secondary teachers' salaries.
But despite this, full-time teachers in Ireland are on an average starting salary of almost €33,000 - compared to an OECD average of €28,000.
While secondary teachers at the top-end of the scale here earn almost €60,000 versus an OECD average of €50,000.
However, the TUI say the report shows that Irish teachers teach considerably longer hours at second level than their international counterparts.
"Findings on salary within the report are potentially misleading given that they are based on those teachers lucky enough to hold contracts for full hours", the union says in a statement.
"In this regard, it must be borne in mind that up to half of teachers under-35 have less than full hours, with many struggling even to meet even modest financial commitments".
TUI President Gerry Quinn said: "The report highlights that the number of teaching hours for Irish second level teachers is 735, which is far in excess of the OECD average of 669 hours"
He adds that Finland, France, Denmark and Norway are among those countries with lower numbers of teaching hours.
Katherine Donnelly is education editor with the Irish Independent. She told Newstalk Lunchtime the benchmark seems to be a fair one.
