Average weekly earnings in Ireland were €703.83 in Q2 2016, a rise of 0.5% from €700.66 one year earlier according to preliminary estimates of the Earnings and Labour Costs Quarterly release from the Central Statistics Office.

The data also showed that average hourly earnings increased by 0.2% between Q2 2015 and Q2 2016, rising from €21.89 to €21.93. Average weekly paid hours were 32.1 in Q2 2016, a 0.3% increase on paid hours in Q2 2015.

Broken down by sector, average weekly earnings increased in nine of the thirteen sectors in the economy in the year to Q2 2016. The highest average weekly earnings of €1,063.39 were in the Information and Communication sector, followed by the Financial, Insurance and Real Estate sector at €1,014.66. The lowest average weekly earnings were €331.81 in the Accommodation and food services sector and in Arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities sector at €467.77. 

Meanwhile, the job vacancy rate at the end of Q2 2016 was 0.9%, the same end of quarter rate as one year earlier.  In Q2 2016 the Financial, Insurance and Real Estate sector had the highest vacancy rate of 2.4%, followed by the Information and Communication sector with a vacancy rate of 2.1%. The Transportation and Storage sector and the Construction sector shared the lowest vacancy rate of 0.3% at the end of Q2 2016.