Average hourly earnings have fallen slightly year-on-year, data published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) today show.
In the first quarter of this year the average hourly wage stood at €22.08, compared to €22.11 for the same period in 2010.
The CSO said hourly earnings fell in seven of the 13 economic sectors with the largest decreases found in professional, scientific and technical (-10 per cent) and construction (-8.5 per cent) sectors.
The Information and communication sector saw wages increase by 8.4 per cent.
There was little or no difference in the public or private sector with both showing similar reductions of 0.6 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively.
The CSO said the number of average weekly paid hours fell 1 per cent to 30.6 over the year.
The figures also revealed that the average weekly wage has fallen by €34.99 over the past two years and now stands at €674.56.
In the first quarter of 2011, some 48,200 fewer staff (-4.2 per cent) were employed in the private sector, but 1,500 more (+ 0.4 per cent) worked in the public sector compared to the same period in 2010.
The increase in public sector staff is offset by over 5,000 temporary workers employed for the census - excluding these public sector employment fell by 3,700 (-0.9 per cent) to 400,000.
