Review of Housing Costs

Increasing costs of rent are hindering workers from benefiting from increases in wages due to the growth of economy and reaching full employment. The number of people who work are reaching record highs because of the booming economy. However, growth in wages cannot keep up with skyrocketing increases in homes.

The average cost of housing is increasing at a rate twice that of average earnings throughout the country. Rent has increased by 8% in 2018. The average wage increased by just over 3%.

According to the Center Statistics Office, the unemployment rate as of the second of July, 2019  is 4.5%. Although this is a relatively low percentage of unemployment other problems exist such as joblessness, skill shortages and low levels of employed women.

Modest official inflation figures are being questioned by various economists to determine if the figures are truly representative of what is actually occurring as increasing demands for greater pay is contributing to more pressure on workers.

In response to heightening housing prices, there have been many actions for the “living wage” to be heightened by an additional …

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Judging from cost of living pressures on living wages is wrong

Ibec has claimed that the living wage is not an accurate way to assess cost of living pressure and is a structurally wrong concept to begin with.

The living wage puts a lot of pressure onto the business. Whether the business’s are able to pay is not accounted for in the living wage. This was following the Living Wage technical group, who sets the living wage figure, increased it by 20 cents to €11.70 in Ireland for 2017.

The reason for the increase? It was accounting for the current housing shortage and the increased rent levels.

This is different than the minimum wage set at €9.25 and set by Government’s low pay commission.

The living wage was created in 2014 updated every July. It is ideally the set average wage for full-time employees to cover the minimum cost of living.

It is set by the Living Wage technical group. They consist of researchers and academics and directed by Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice.

It is priced by many factors which include: health insurance cost, food cost, Universal Social Charge weekly …

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Housing Prices push up living wage

The Living Wage Technical Group, an organization that annually calculates the wage required to support an acceptable standard of living in Ireland, recently published it’s 2017 report, listing the living wage as €11.70 an hour. This new rate is €0.20 higher than the previous rate and €2.45 higher than the actual minimum wage in Ireland.

 

The Living Wage Group defines the living wage as a rate that “provides employees with sufficient income to achieve an agreed acceptable minimum standard of living”. It is calculated to account for the price of various necessities such as clothing, food, housing, healthcare, and education. Out of these factors, many experts have attributed rising housing prices as the main reasons behind the need for higher wages.

 

In its 2017 report, the Living Wage Group supported this reasoning and published that “the current housing crisis, and associated increases in rent levels, has been the main driver of the increased wage rate”. The average house price in Ireland has risen 11.2% over the past year, with areas such as Dublin seeing even greater increases in …

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