Hourly earnings increase 6% in industrial and financial sectors

HOURLY earnings in the industrial and financial sectors increased by about 6% last year.

The latest earnings and labour costs survey from the Central Statistics Office, which covers the period from the last quarter of 2005 to the last quarter of 2006 inclusive, showed that although there was a rise of 4,800 people employed in the financial sector from 74,300 to 79,100, there was a fall of 4,800 employed in the industrial sector. The number fell to 241,000 from 245,800.

It also said hourly earnings rose 5.7% in the industrial sector and 6.2% in the financial sector during the period.