Public and private sector pay gap shrinks

The pay gap between workers in the public and private sector has always been significant, especially in Ireland. This divide is not common in many other countries in the European Union, which is why Irish government officials and economists have been extremely diligent in tracking the changes over time. Although there is usually a difference, Ireland has in the past decade faced a 46pc inequality; this was at the peak. 

In general, the Irish public sector has proven to be paying more and growing quicker than the private sector. This is interesting, given that the public sector is owned and operated by or within the federal, county or local governments.

 The private sector is companies that have no governmental ties, and allow the privately owned establishments to set their own wages; some examples of this are corporations, both in not for profit and profit, and partnerships. 

The Central Statistics Office reported in 2018 that state workers on average earned around €947 a week, which at the end of the year would total just around €49,390. People doing similar jobs in …

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Low Unemployment Rate not Translating to Better Living Standards

Ireland’s unemployment rate has reached all-time lows and people are not able to experience the benefits. Rising house prices are increasing faster than the raise in wages causing bad living standards for many people. The Central Statistics Office posted an unemployment rate at 4.5% last month. Despite this low number, ICTU President Sheila Nunan is still worried about different groups of people that are affected. She mentioned additional problems like youth joblessness, skills shortages, and low employment levels for women as factors that need to be addressed.

Rent has risen approximately 8% in the last year while wage hikes have averaged about 3% over the same period. Many people are calling for wage hikes to be implemented to allow people to afford rising costs in the housing markets. Rent costs contribute to more than half of minimum living costs in Dublin.

The living wage refers to the wage that people need to earn to be able to afford the minimum basket of goods and services. Few employees have used that number as the starting salary for their employees and instead …

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June Unemployment Statistics

Ireland seems to have hit as close to full employment as possible as rates stay constant from May to June of 2019. Full employment is a condition of the economy in which every person who is currently able to work and is seeking employment is employed.   

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) recently released their monthly unemployment report which included details in regards to the changes that have occurred month to month in 2019, as well as a comparison between June 2018 and 2019 statistics. According to these comparisons, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate from May to June 2019 has stayed at a constant 4.5pc unemployed. On a yearly basis, there has been a significant decrease of 1.4pc; June 2018 was at 5.9pc while June 2019 is at 4.5pc. 

This percentage change shows a significant change in the amount of seasonally adjusted number of persons unemployed from 140,200 people in 2018 to 109,700 in 2019, which is a 30,500 person decrease. There are many reasons for a decrease in unemployment including immigration and emigration or businesses and people, the creation of …

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CSO reports employment increases

March of 2012 marked one one of the highest rates of unemployment since the beginning of the 2000s. January 2012 was the peak, with unemployment reaching a whopping 16pc of the entire willing and able working population. 

Since then, unemployment rates have been decreasing steadily by 2-3pc every 2 years. From 2013 to Q1 of 2019, there was a was a 21.7pc increase, or 409,900 people, increase in employment; this percentage was almost entirely made of full time employment gains. 

The total number of people that are employed now is 2,301,900, of which “1,828,900 or 79.5pc were in full-time employment while 473,000 or 20.5pc were in part-time employment” according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO). 

Of these increases, there was growth in every one of the ten recorded occupational groups. Some of these groups include managers, directors and seniors, misc. Professionals, associate professional and technical, administrative and secretarial, and skill trade among many others. 

Another statistic that has shown significant improvement is that of the 473,000 people who are employed part time, only 16.1pc of these people were so because …

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Regular wages and purchasing homes

In the current market, there is an increasing want and need for housing in Ireland, especially in populated cities such as Dublin. With this increasing demand, prices of homes and rent are rising each year. One problem that many soon-to-be or want-to-be home owners face now is the inability to effectively save for a home when they are paying high rent fees month after month.

The Central Statistics Office of Ireland notes that the average full time worker made around €45,611, while an average part time worker made around €16,600. Using surveys on these two numbers, we can say that the average worker in Dublin makes around €37,000 per year.

These numbers seem to allow a single person to be able to obtain a mortgage and afford a home, but if you were to add into the equation any additional expenses, such as children, rent or transportation, there would be a significant amount of money deducted from those average numbers.

The national average rent in Ireland is €1,122 per month. If you are interesting in living in Dublin, …

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Mortgage Market Update

The Financial Broker gives readers an overview on currently property prices and mortgage market conditions.

The Central Statistics Office published a report showing price inflation on property had increased 10.7% in the past year up to February. A similar report reveal how the number of newly build housing last year was 14,932 units when estimates denote a demand of up to 50,000 units. These numbers illustrate a problem in the current mortgage market, which this article pinpoints the causes of. The author laments about rising property prices, arguing that many potential home buyers have missed out on the prime time to purchase property, and are currently no long capable of affording the housing of their choice at an acceptable price.

The author attributes the current housing price and rent inflation in Ireland as consequences of a lack of supply in urban areas instead of lax macro-prudential regulations. In fact, she argues that current Central Bank regulations are too restrictive, and thus have prevented demanders from being able to locate and buy affordable housing. While the prudential regulations have lowered the …

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