Updated 11.00
More than seven out of ten companies are planning to give their workers a pay rise next year - according to a new survey.
Employers group IBEC, which carried out the poll, found the pay increases to be offered to staff average at 2%.
This year 67% of companies will have increased staff pay.
But IBEC claims that a significant number of companies still cannot afford to raise pay levels.
IBEC's head of Industrial Relations and HR Maeve McElwee spoke to Newstalk.com's Breakfast Show:
Meanwhile, new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that average weekly earnings have indeed gone up.
CSO statistics for the final quarter of last year show people were taking home more money across all the major work sectors.
The average weekly income ranged from a high of €1,076 a week for people working in finance, to a low of €325 in the accommodation and food service sectors.
