Living Wage increases to €11.70 an hour

The Living Wage has been increased by 20c to €11.70 an hour.

That is up from €11.50 last year and is almost €2.50 more than the minimum wage.

Businesses can choose to pay their staff the higher rate which is set every year by experts who calculate what people need to earn to have a basic standard of living.

Senior Researcher with the Vincentian Partnership, Robert Thornton explained what they mean by the Living Wage.

"The average hourly gross salary is what a full-time worker would need to earn for food, clothing, basic personal care, and health costs, being able to meet a friend for coffee occassionally, maybe downloading a song from iTunes, or going to the cinema a couple of times a year," he said.