Public sector wages 43% more than industrial

http://www.rte.ie/business/2005/0223/cso.html

The figures, which were published today by the Central Statistics Office today, show that public service wages now average €41,700 a year. This compares with €29,200 in industry.

The CSO's figures also reveal that the average public servant now earns 43 percent more than the average industrial worker does

I saw this on the RTE1 News last night, and I must admit I was suprised by the difference in wages throughout Ireland. My parents are both Teachers (Primary and Secondary) and while I knew they earned a fair wack (with tax breaks and other "perks" - e.g. secure jobs), I hadn't realised it was the same across the board.

My concern is that I work in the business sector, and I knew that when entering this type of employment I'd start off low, but would be able to increase my wages over time. And I have, however, public service employment has far surpassed my own increases in wages over a similiar time. Traditionally private sector jobs had a higher average wage, but this is definetly no longer the case.

And since the Unions continue to clamour for increases in employment rights, and wages (and pension) increases this is likely to continue. Can you really see the Irish Government being stubborn enough to lower public sector wages? I don't.

I'd like to know your opinions on this, and see whether I'm the only one that has concern over this issue.

leonlafrite

From the publicjobs website :

https://www.publicjobs.ie/cand/joblisting_eng.asp

At the moment the job with the lowest wage is from 28 k only...I do not know how much the equivalent is for the private sector...:

Nurse Officer in the Irish Prison Service
Employing Department/Authority : Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform
Location : Nationwide
Salary : From €28,089.00 To €39,344.00

Roisin Dubh

This shows the nonsense of benchmarking. I wonder will the public-sector unions be demanding a pay cut now? After all, they wanted benchmarking to bring their wages "in line" with private-sector jobs.

Of greater danger is that these figures will be used by private-sector unions to demand higher wages, leading to industrial unrest. But at least they are making a more valid point.

Meh

You've got to be careful with statistics like this. Perhaps this trend is caused by increased outsourcing and privatization, which means that lower-paid jobs which used to be public-sector (like rubbish collection and cleaning) are increasingly done by employees of private-sector contract companies. That would push the average pay for public-sector workers up, and drag the average for private-sector workers down.

I'd be more interested to see statistics comparing specific public sector jobs with the equivalent job in the private sector.

Mr. Presentable

The RTE report is quite misleading.

My wife is in the Civil Service as Executive Officer with 7 years service @ 32,000

My sister is in Civil service 2 years, and on 22,000


Entry level in Civil Service is about 20,000

Not all Publin sector posts earn what the prison service does. Remember, moost Public sector posts are not entitled to overtime.

ishmael whale

On this morning’s radio there was a union head on saying that public service workers tended to be more highly qualified and that, taking equivalent jobs, the public service did not pay over the odds. The figures on public sector earnings includes people like teachers and health service personnel, so average industrial earnings are not necessarily comparable.There’s some useful tables off this link:

http://www.cso.ie/statistics/earnings.htm

According to this material average weekly earnings in banks/insurance companies is €698. Administrative civil servants, who might be regarded as somewhat similar, earn €648. Primary and secondary teachers earn more – €712 and €848 respectively. It’s a bit of a judgement call – how do you assess if teachers are worth more than bank staff?

There is a group classed as “Industrial Civil Servants”. They earn an average €534 per week as against private sector industrial earnings of €564 (males) and €393 (females).

The main point that emerges from the data is that gardai and prison officers are well paid compared to other employments when overtime is included. But, in truth, who wants to be a prison officer?