PAY RATES and labour costs rose in the final three months of 2011 according to new data published by the central statistics office yesterday.

In the final quarter of last year, average hourly pay rates stood at €21.83, with workers in the private sector earning €19.48 per hour on average.

Public sector workers made almost 50 per cent more than their counterparts in the private sector, earning €28.64 on average in the last three months of the year. The figures do not take account of taxes and are not adjusted for seasonal factors.

Average hourly pay rates have remained broadly stable over the three years during which the figures have been collated, fluctuating in the range of €21-23.

Average weekly pay rates (which account for increases and decreases in hours worked) show the same pattern of broad stability over three years.

Average hourly labour costs, which are accounted for mostly by pay, but also include other non-wage payments employers make, such as social insurance and pension contributions, stood at €24.77 in the final quarter of last year.

Average hourly labour costs have also remained broadly stable over three years, fluctuating in a range of €24-26.

These figures suggest that absolute competitiveness gains via a reduction in labour costs have not been achieved. although there may have been relative gains versus countries which have seen labour costs rise.

Included in yesterdays CSO release were figures on the numbers employed in the public sector. In the final three months of the year 392,300 people were at work in the public sector, a reduction of 500 on three months earlier.

Across the entire public sector, employee numbers fell by 6 per cent from the first quarter of 2008 to the final quarter of 2011.

The CSO figures on public sector employment differ from those of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.