A new report from a productivity unit in Britain for the Federation of European Employers will not have done much to cheer the Government or members of IBEC this week as they awaited the result of the vote by unions on the new national pay agreement. It said that Irish workers were underpaid by comparison with their peers in other European states given the increase in productivity from the same workers.

At the same time, a report from a group of consultants on executive pay in the EU put Irish executives near the top of the league in terms of gross salary just behind the Italians, Danes and Spaniards.

Following the scare over rapidly rising inflation on the vote, I imagine the employers will be glad that the agreement has now been accepted before any other nasty surprises emerge.