Public sector pay rose by 5.5 per cent in the year to June 2005, twice the rate of growth in industrial earnings, according to the latest statistics.
Figures released today by the Central Statistics Office show that the average weekly pay of a public sector employee was €838.32 in June 2005.
The average industrial wage was €577.31 in the same month, having risen by just 2.7 per cent in the preceding 12 months.
Only earnings in the booming construction sector - at 6.3 per cent - have increased faster than public sector earnings over the 12 months to June 2005, according to the CSO figures.
But even with the rapid rate of wage inflation, the average weekly wage of a construction worker is still below the public sector wage at €742.25.
Public sector pay also outstrips average pay in banking and financial service at €776.42 and the business services and distribution sector at €638.31.
Excluding the health sector, 249,200 people were employed in the public sector in June 2005, an increase of 5,200 in 12 months.
Employment in education increased from 86,800 to 91,100, and numbers in the health sector increased from 97,700 to 100,900.
The semi-State sector saw a drop in staff from 58,100 to 57,300 in the same period.
Overall employment in the public sector was 350,100 in June 2005, an increase of 8,400 compared with June 2004.