IBEC warned today that Irish industry must work to bring wage demands into line with EU averages to protect future economic growth.
According to the latest Eurostat figures, Irish labour costs were three times the European average for the last quarter of last year
Mr Aebhric McGibney, Senior Economist at IBEC, said this was unsurprising, as the growth in Irish labour costs has been the highest in Europe for some time. Wage growth in Ireland was twice the EU average last year.
It is particularly worrying that "the ratio of wage growth in industry here is increasing relative to the rest of Europe," he said.
The adverse affects of these wage increases were already leading to higher unemployment and redundancies rates, and driving inflation upwards.