That low.
A new Structure of Earnings Survey by Eurostat finds:
The proportion of low-wage earners among employees amounted to 17.2% in 2014 in the European Union (EU). This means that they earned two-thirds or less of their national median gross hourly earnings.
The proportion of low-wage earners continued to vary significantly between Member States in 2014. The highest percentages were observed in Latvia (25.5%), Romania (24.4%), Lithuania (24.0%) and Poland (23.6%), followed by Estonia (22.8%), Germany (22.5%), Ireland (21.6%) and the United Kingdom (21.3%). In contrast, less than 10% of employees were low wage earners in Sweden (2.6%), Belgium (3.8%), Finland (5.3%), Denmark (8.6%), France (8.8%) and Italy (9.4%).
Read the report in full here
We also have the second highest Median Gross Hourly Earnings (€20.20) behind Denmark (€25.50).
I don’t know what that means, but it struck me as significant somehow.
Extrapolating from this a little further, according to the data presented here, anyone earning two-thirds or less of the National Median Gross Hourly Earnings is a low-wage earner. In Ireland, the national Median Gross Hourly Earnings is €20.20, so two-thirds of that is €13.45.
So, anyone earning less than €13.45 per hour (or less than €538.13 for a 40 hour week) is a low wage earner.
Hmmmm.
The only info I can find online puts median gross income at 28,500 in 2015 Ireland. That works out at ~540 per week. Something’s off with these figures.
Are they not saying the same thing?
€538.13 ~ €540
Nope, my median wage figure equals their low wage figure. Their median wage is about 40k which is somewhere a bit above what our average wage is, I believe.
No.
‘TheQ47’ has extrapolated, that what’s considered low wage according to this report, is two-thirds of the median (538 per week) The median is higher. (808 a week.. 40 x 20.20 )
‘edalicious’ is saying the median is 540 p/w (two-thirds of this is €360)
I see. Thanks guys
Actually, that bit of blurb in the bottom right excludes a load of workers from their calculations. Agriculture, fishing, forestry, public administration and only companies of ten or more. I’d love to know what proportion of Irish workers are actually left!
Ireland striving for top spot in the race to the bottom, bravo inda, bravo
You’re going to be heartbroken when full employment is reached again.
ireland also has probably the highest cost of living in Europe, so that makes us a basket case of a country, personal savings-wise.
A 10 second Google would have told you that this isn’t the case…
Okay, but we’re pretty high up there
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings_by_country.jsp?title=2016-mid®ion=150
Also in Scandinavian countries you actually get things in return for your taxes that make life way easier, cheaper health care, child care, public transport. We don’t get much.
We are indeed quite high up there; I was just refuting your over-excited assertion.
Rob G was just making a fool of himself again. Start googling yourself Robert
Oh yeah, and they have these things called Housing regulations that actually mean something. Their housing build quality is way better than here. Much warmer in the winter, thy pay less on heating drafty, BER cert failure homes because they don’t build homes so badly.
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Get the facts that prove me wrong Rob. Also in the first post I said Ireland has ‘probably’ the highest cost of living in Europe. I was not far off. I listen to the news on TV and radio Rob. I’m aware of Irish peoples frustrations and anxieties. I don’t need to keep quoting a chart everytime I say something.
Ireland has had numderous reported failings in housing, corrupt builders, fire hazards you name it. Conumers got ripped off.
Take a trip to Sweden and Denmark, have a good look at the quality of their homes. It will make you feel quite angry to see what we pay for, for more money here.
Well, it was you made that made the assertion, and you are the self-styled expert on all things Nordic, so I think that you should provide the data to back up your sweeping statements.
Yep. I’d like to see Dublin-weighted salaries introduced. Many companies are still riding along at 2010 compensation-levels.
Aren’t the Scandinavians great at stuff?
Northern Europeans come from a mainly Lutheran culture. They’re just more progressive, honest, less corrupt.
Catholic culture on the other hand….Wooooaaaah!
What do you mean!? Look at ourselves, the Italians, Latin Americans all good salt of the…oh
23% of the workforce is classed as part time according to the OECD – 4th highest %
https://data.oecd.org/emp/part-time-employment-rate.htm
Pure tosh. Bodger would like to see us swap places with Italy or Portugal.
As that raging radical Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, said this week
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/speeches/2016/speech946.pdf
“In Anglo-Saxon countries, the income share of the top 1% has risen notably since 1980. Today, in the US, the richest 1% of households receive 20% of all income.
“Such high income inequalities are dwarfed by staggering wealth inequalities. The proportion of the wealth held by the richest 1% of Americans increased from 25% in 1990 to 40% in 2012. Globally, the share of wealth held by the richest 1% in the world rose from one-third in 2000 to one-half in 2010.”
it’s a pity we can’t all be in the 1%.
that would be nice.
You can thank Jobbridge for that. That was its REAL purpose. Driving down the value of work in order to increase profits for shareholders (who don’t do anything).