THE AVERAGE employee in the Republic earned €20.08 per hour, worked 34.4 hours a week and had spent nine years in their current job in 2007, according to the latest National Employment Survey.

The survey, conducted by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in October 2007, found that public sector workers earned 47.6 per cent more per hour than private sector workers and that there was a gender pay gap of almost 11 per cent on an hourly basis.

Employees in the public sector were paid an average of €26.67, compared to €18.07 in the private sector. The gap between the sectors narrowed slightly compared to 2006, when there was a 48.9 per cent difference in public and private sector hourly earnings.

Fine Gael deputy leader and finance spokesman Richard Bruton called for an audit of work practices in the public sector and a “downward benchmarking” exercise to further narrow the gap.

Although comparing average pay levels between the public and private sector could sometimes be misleading, Mr Bruton said, there was still indisputable evidence of a major pay premium in the public sector.

Davy Research economist Rossa White said the gap between public and private pay could not be justified by saying that public sector employees are more experienced, better educated or do different jobs.

The survey, which is based on earnings data provided by employers and individual data collected from employees, found that average earnings rose 4.8 per cent on 2006. Median hourly earnings in 2007 were €16.29. This means that half of all workers earned less than this sum per hour.

Men earned an average of €21.17 per hour, while women earned an average of €18.91, or around 89 per cent of male earnings. The biggest gender pay gap was in the financial sector, where average hourly earnings for males came to €31.99, while females earned €23.48 per hour, or 73 per cent of average male pay.

There was also a significant pay penalty for working part-time. Hourly earnings for full-time employees average at €21.17, but part-time workers take home just €15.40 per hour. This gap was closest in the health sector.

Average earnings per hour were highest in the education sector at €33.23. On an annual basis, however, earnings were highest in the electricity, gas and water supply sector. Average hourly earnings were the lowest in the hotel and restaurants sector at €12.93 per hour. This sector also recorded the lowest annual earnings.

Employees with a third-level degree or higher tended to have higher earnings than other employees and this difference was found to increase with age.

Employees aged under 25 years with a third-level degree or higher qualification earned €17.57 per hour, while those whose highest educational attainment was the Leaving Certificate earned €12.31 per hour. This gap widened to €42.21 and €20.97 respectively for workers aged 50-60.

More than half of public sector workers have third-level qualifications, compared with 32 per cent of private sector workers.

The survey also shows that location influences earning power and that there is roughly a €2-per-hour premium on wages in the capital.

Employees living in Dublin earned €22.03 per hour compared to €20.29 for those living in the rest of Leinster. In Munster, the average hourly earnings were €19.07, while in Connacht, they were €18.83. In Ulster, average earnings were €17.59 per hour.

Average annual earnings were €37,726 in 2007. The average weekly pay in October 2007 was €687.51.