Average weekly earnings in the financial, insurance and property sector rose by almost 7 per cent to €1,161.75 in the first quarter of the year, when compared to the same period 12 months previously.

New data from the the Central Statistics Office showed that the sector posted the sharpest earnings growth in the period, during which average weekly earnings across the economy rose by 1 per cent to €707.99.

The CSO recorded an earnings rise in eight of the 13 sectors it follows.The largest fall was seen in the public administration and defence sector, but the 3.8 per cent decline was attributed to temporary census field staff who had lower than average weekly paid hours. The number of people employed in the public sector rose 3.2 per cent to 386,600, including 4,600 census temporary staff.

Census staff

In general, public sector average weekly earnings fell 1.2 per cent, but when census field staff were excluded, that decline narrowed to 0.1 per cent, with earnings at €905.96.

In the private sector, average weekly earnings rose 2.2 per cent from €639.73 to €654.11.

Paid hours were also up marginally, rising 0.3 per cent to 31.6 hours in the first three months of the year.

Hourly earnings were also higher compared with a year earlier, rising 0.7 per cent to €22.40, with the largest increase was recorded in the information and communication sector, which saw a rise of 4.4 per cent from €30.56 to €31.91 per hour.