Men account for more than 70% of top earners, new figures show 

Large disparities in earnings even in sectors in which women dominate the workforce, according to new data from the CSO 

Even in the female-dominated healthcare sector, only 37.2% of those with earnings in the top 1% are women. 

Despite a slight improvement in recent years, men accounted for nearly three-quarters of the top earners across the country in 2023, with large disparities noted even in sectors in which women dominate the workforce, new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows.

Over half (56.7%) of employments with earnings in the top 1% were held by those living in Dublinhttps://t.co/aUExVS0el9#CSOIreland #Ireland #LabourForceSurvey #LabourForce #Households #Families #LabourMarket #LiveRegister #Jobs #Employment #Unemployment pic.twitter.com/CRH2XPw6ts

— Central Statistics Office Ireland (@CSOIreland) November 5, 2024

Throughout last year, men accounted for 50.9% of all in active employment, while women accounted for 49.1%. However, men accounted for 73.6% of workers with earnings in the top 1%.

Women accounted for the remaining 26.4% — which is a 5% increase since 2018.

Men represented a higher proportion of the total number in employment across eight of the 13 economic sectors. However, they accounted for the majority of the top 1% of earnings across all sectors.

According to the CSO, in the construction sector, the gender representation was relatively consistent across all earnings levels analysed. In this male-dominated sector, men accounted for 85.9% of total workers, while the remaining 14.1% of workers were women.

Among the top earners employed in this sector, 94.7% were men and the remaining 5.3% were women.

The sector which had the closest split between women and men was the accommodation and food service sector, with women accounting for 51.3% of workers, while men accounted for 48.7%.

However, this sector has one of the biggest disparities between the top earnings. Just 18.6% of women working in this sector have earnings in the top 1%, with men accounting for the remaining 81.4%.

The CSO has a caution on these numbers as there is a low number of people in the top 1% of earners in this sector — between 30 and 49 people — and as such can have a wider margin of error.

The CSO also highlighted a significant disparity in sectors where women made up the majority of workers but a minority of those who are the highest paid.

It said in the health and social work sector, women represented 76.6% of workers during 2023 but only 37.2% of those had earnings in the top 1%. A similar trend was seen in the education sector, where 72.6% of all workers were women, but only 32.2% of those had earnings in the top 1% in that sector.

The data also showed Dublin had the highest median annual earnings in 2023, at €47,873 which is 10% higher than the national average of €43,221. Over half of workers with earnings in the top 1%, 56.7%, were held by people living in Dublin.

After Dublin, Kildare had the next highest median annual earnings, at €46,819, followed by Meath, €44,902, and Wicklow at €44,750. Cork rounded out the top five at €44,348.

The county with the lowest median annual earnings during 2023 was Donegal at €35,010, followed by Monaghan at €35,894, and Kerry at €37,151.