Public sector wages increased 3.2% in 2008

The average weekly wage for public sector workers rose 3.2 per cent last year, new figures from the Central Statistics Office published today show.

Public workers earned an average of €966 in December 2008, compared to €936 in 2007. These figures exclude the earnings of those working in the health sector.

The CSO said there were a total of 262,300 people working in the public sector - excluding health - at the end of 2008, an increase of 5,700 over the previous year. The majority of this rise was in education, where there were 4,100 more staff than in 2007.

In December 2008, there were 105,000 education staff, 53,300 staff employed in State agencies, 38,800 civil servants, 38,500 people working in regional bodies, 14,300 members of An Garda Síochána, 11,300 Defence Forces staff and 1,100 people in other public employment.

The best-paid public workers at the end of last year were gardaí. While they earned €150 per week more in basic salary in 2008 than they did in 2007, cuts in overtime meant their average weekly wage fell from €1,262 in 2007 to €1,158 last year. Their average basic weekly earnings without overtime was €1,081 in 2008.

Staff working in semi-state bodies received an average of €1,072 per week in 2008, while those in regional bodies earned €864. Civil servants got €940 per week, Defence Forces staff earned €825 and education workers received €964 per week on average.

A total of 111,000 staff were working in the health services in December 2008, a fall of 500 over the previous 12 months. The CSO said information on wages for health service staff was not available.