SIPTU has stated that figures for Earnings and Labour Costs for 2015, published today (Tuesday, 28th June) by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), highlight the different experiences of unionised and non-unionised workers in terms of pay recovery. SIPTU Researcher Marie Sherlock said: “Many of our members have received pay increases of over 2%, while large numbers of other workers have yet to experience an increase in earnings due to the economic recovery. “Although the CSO figures show that average earnings increased during 2015 by 1.2% this statistic masks the reality that many workers saw little or no increase, with some actually experiencing a decline in wages during 2015. She added “Our analysis of quarterly earnings and labour cost figures previously published by the CSO show that the group of workers to benefit most from increases in wages in 2015 were in the managers, professionals and associated professionals category. In contrast the average weekly earnings of those in the production, transport, craft and other manual workers category experienced a slight decrease. Unfortunately, workers in the clerical sales and service employees category experienced a more substantial, 3.2%, decrease in their average earnings year on year between 2014 and 2015. “The figures show that for many the improvement in the wider economy is not resulting in any improvement in their earnings. When compared with the pay increases SIPTU has negotiated for many production, clerical and services workers, the figures clearly indicate that the pay premium enjoyed by trade union members is significant.”
CSO figures show large number of workers yet to benefit from economic recovery
