Ireland average weekly earnings pass €1,000 for first time, CSO figures reveal

Irish average weekly earnings rose to €1,026.20 in Q1 2025, driven by wage growth and job stability

The average weekly earnings in Ireland has now passed €1,000, statistics from the CSO said. Picture: Pexels

The average weekly earnings in Ireland has now passed €1,000, statistics from the CSO reveal.

In the first quarter of 2025, average weekly earnings stood at €1,026.20, up 5.6% from €972.20 in the first quarter of 2024.

“Average earnings in the economy continue to increase year-on-year, surpassing €1,000 for the first time in the series. This is driven by a number of factors, including a stable job vacancy rate for the past 18 months, as well as annual employment growth of 3.3% as reported in the latest CSO Labour Force Survey," said Louise Egan, statistician in the CSO's earnings analysis division. 

Average weekly earnings increased by 6.4% across the public sector in the year to Q1 2025, rising from €1,150.91 to €1,224.44.  Gardaí had the highest average weekly earnings and average weekly paid hours in Q1 2025 in the public sector at €1,626.82 and 42.9 hours respectively. The highest average hourly earnings were €48.64 in the education sector.

Overall there were 29,700 job vacancies nationally at the end of Q1 2025, up 2,500 from the end of Q1 2024. This puts the job vacancy rate at 1.3%, slightly higher than the 1.2% recorded at both the end of Q1 2024 and Q4 2024.

Average weekly earnings rose across 12 out of 13 sectors. The largest annual percentage increase in average weekly earnings in Q1 2025 was 8% in the arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities sector, followed by an increase of 7.9% in the professional, scientific and technical activities sector.

Average hourly earnings rose by 5.9% to €31.72 in Q1 2025, from €29.96 in the equivalent period in 2024. Average weekly paid hours were 32.4 in Q1 2025, down 0.3% from the Q1 2024 hours of 32.5.

The highest averages for hourly total labour costs in Q1 2025 were €63.75 in information and communication, and €55.67 in financial and real estate. The sectors with the lowest cost of employing labour were the accommodation and food services activities sector at €19.47 and the wholesale and retail trade sector at €28.43.

The public administration and defence sector had the highest job vacancy rate at 4% in Q1 2025, followed by 2.3% in the professional, scientific and technical activities sector.