Graduates earn up to 30% more in public sector jobs

GRADUATE workers in the public sector are earning as much as 30% more than their counterparts in private industry.

A new ESRI report shows that recent graduates in the public sector earn as much as 19.32, compared to 13.91 for their counterparts in the private sector.

The report says that even on a monthly basis, recent graduates are earning more in the employment of the Government that in the private sector, with monthly pay of €2,971 per month compared to €2,494.

The reports’ authors, Philip O’Connell and Helen Russell, said the 18% difference in monthly earnings came even though private sector employees work longer hours.

The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) said the disparity between pay scales reflects that a greater number of employees in the public sector have third level qualifications, and tend to stay in their positions for longer.

It also emerged, in the report, that those working in the public sector worked fewer hours, €36.84 per week as against €41.09 in private companies.

More than half of all employees in the private sector were paid a bonus compared to just 10% in the public sector.

But there is very little difference on the size of the bonus payment for between the public and private sector.

“Even including bonuses, the public sector wage premium remains at 7% when we [allow] for other factors that influence wages,” the report said.

“These are substantial wage differences in early careers and appear to be higher than those observed in other countries ... Our findings would seem to have clear implications for the next public sector benchmarking exercise.”

The country’s 248,000 public sector workers earned an average of €866.55 a week, the latest CSO data shows, or €45,000 a year. The average industrial wage is just under €35,000.