Global technology companies paid average annual salaries of up to €155,000 ($179,000) to their staff in the Republic in their most recent full financial years, an Irish Times analysis of accounts filed by subsidiaries of some of the world’s leading tech giants has revealed.
The filings cover a sample of Irish-registered entities for some of the biggest tech employers in the Republic, including Amazon, Google, Meta and Salesforce, as well as Microsoft and its subsidiary LinkedIn.
The most recent accounts for LinkedIn Ireland, which has its European headquarters in Dublin, show the firm had a wage bill of €329.9 million ($382.9 million) in the 18 months to the end of June 2024.
It meant the average basic salary paid to the 2,135 staff at the Microsoft-owned professional networking platform approached €155,000 over the 18-month period. On an annual basis, the average salary figure was €103,068, according to LinkedIn.
READ MORE
Google Ireland, which declined to comment, paid total wages and salaries of €767 million in 2023, according to its most recent set of accounts, filed last December. The average salary across its 5,310-strong workforce for the year was just above €144,000.
Apple, which employs about 6,000 people in the Republic, does not provide country-specific financials. However, the iPhone maker paid some 55,827 global staff about €3.84 billion ($4.46 billion) in the 12 months to the end of September last through its Irish subsidiary, Apple Operations International, averaging almost €69,000.
Why is Ireland not considered a truly rich country?
The figures do not account for the generous share-based remuneration and bonuses that are a feature of tech employment. Moreover, they also do not include pension and PRSI costs.
However, the data help to illustrate the outsized role that the multinational-dominated information and communication technology (ICT) sector plays in the Republic’s economy.
Despite accounting for just 6.7 per cent of the total number of people in employment, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the ICT workers made the largest contribution to total PAYE income tax and Universal Social Charge receipts last year, accounting for 12.3 per cent of the total.
This is largely because ICT workers pay higher rates of tax due to their high gross pay. Average pay levels across the sector are significantly higher than the regular Irish average annual earnings, which stood at almost €46,000 nationally last year, according to CSO data.
*This article was amended on August 22nd to add the annual average salary figure for LinkedIn.
