Public sector workers earned 40 per cent more than private sector workers in 2003, a new survey of employment and earnings in the economy revealed yesterday, writes Marc Coleman, Economics Editor.
The National Employment Survey, published yesterday by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) reveals that public sector workers earned an hourly average of €21.04 in 2003, compared with €15.03 per hour for workers in the private sector. The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association (Isme) condemned the findings and said that the Government should use the impending second public service pay benchmarking exercise to correct the gap
Public sector earnings were higher for all occupations, except associate professional and technical staff, the survey found. The greatest differential occurred for personal and protective services - such as lower-ranking gardaí - where public sector workers earned €15.01 per hour, some 46 per cent more than their private sector counterparts.
Clerical and secretarial staff earned 25 per cent more in the public sector than in the private sector, while equivalent differentials for professional and managerial staff were 28.4 and 30.5 per cent, respectively.
Men continue to earn more than women, the survey found, although the gender gap differs significantly across sectors and age groups. On average women earned €14.93 per hour or 84 per cent of average male earnings of €17.74.
Across broad economic sectors, the greatest difference was in the financial sector where male earnings, €30.62 on average, were almost 50 per cent higher than female earnings of €20.32
The lowest difference was in the hotel and restaurant sector, where male and female hourly earnings were €10.95 and €9.86 respectively. In the 15 to 24 age group, mean hourly earnings were almost equal for male and female staff, at €10.56 and €10.30 respectively.
The largest difference was among workers in the 50 to 59 age group, where earnings differed by 16.5 per cent.
Isme chief executive Mark Fielding reacted strongly to the survey's findings on pay differentials between the public and private sector pay. "The higher earning levels in the public sector are a triumph of public sector avarice, greed and bureaucracy over enterprise. The National Employment Survey confirms - if confirmation was needed - that wages in the public sector are and have been increasing beyond the private sector, the reverse of which was the basis of claims for benchmarking," Mr Fielding said yesterday.
He called on the Government to use the forthcoming benchmarking exercise to correct pay differences between public and private sector workers.
But speaking from Killarney, where Impact's conference opened yesterday, Bernard Harbor, spokesman for the public sector unions, said that higher salaries in the public sector were justified.
"Qualifications are the biggest factor in determining pay and half of public servants are in graduate professions compared to just one eighth of private sector workers. It's no real surprise that average pay in the public service is higher," Mr Harbor said.
The survey also found that the average Irish worker has been employed for just over 15 years, spending 8.5 years in their current employment.
The average working week is 33 hours. It also found that large firms paid staff on average 50 per cent more than small firms.
The National Employment survey is the first in a series of annual comparisons of employment trends across the economy and was conducted in March 2003.