Tax changes and energy price drops 'reduce living wage by five cents'

Over the past year, the technical group said living costs have increased for eight areas of expenditure included in the calculation and decreased for seven

It is the first time the living wage has fallen since the Living Wage Technical Group started calculating it a decade ago. Picture: Patrick Bolger/Bloomberg

Tax changes and a drop in energy prices have pushed the living wage down by five cents per hour, an expert technical group has said.

It added that the minimum wage is still €2.05 below the real living wage of €14.75.