Irish men earn €14,000 more on average a year compared to women

The CSO figures prompted warnings that lower earnings for women means they are putting less away for their pensions

The proportion of female workers with earnings in the top 1% increased by five percentage points in the past five years.

Women represent half the workforce but only make up just over a quarter (27.6%) of the top 1% of earners in Ireland, new figures have revealed.

In a breakdown of earnings by gender and county, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said the proportion of women in the top 1% of earners has been on the rise in recent years but men still earned over €14,000 on average a year compared to women in 2024.

“During the five-year period between 2019 and 2024, the proportion of female employments with earnings in the top 1% increased by five percentage points,” CSO statistician Dr Eimear Heffernan said. "[This was] the highest proportion of female employments in this earnings bracket since the series began in 2011. 

"During the same period, the proportion of female employments with earnings in the top 10% rose from 27.9% in 2019 to 30.6% in 2024.” Even in sectors where women make up the majority of workers, such as in education, health and accommodation and food services, there were still more men in the top 1% of earners.

In terms of the health and social work sector, women represented 76.3% of all workers in this area. However, they made up just 38.2% of the people earning the top 1% in this sector. It was similar in education, where women accounted for 73.1% of workers, but only accounted for 35.7% of the top 1% of earners.

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While overall, average earnings stood at €56,356 in the year 2024, this rose to €63,520 for men and fell to €49,022 for women.

There was less of a disparity in the median earnings – the midpoint of all earnings rather than the average – with men earning a median salary of €48,897 and women earning €40,424.

Breaking it down by county, Dublin had the highest median earnings in the country last year at €49,224.

Dr Heffernan said: “Dublin was followed by Kildare (€48,431), Wicklow (€46,527), Cork (€46,416), and Meath (€46,272), each of which had median annual earnings greater than those of the State (€44,816). The lowest median annual earnings were recorded in Donegal (€36,967), Monaghan (€37,867), and Longford (€38,857) in 2024.” 

How much men earned compared to women varied by county. While men in Sligo earned just 7.7% more than women, men in Kildare earned around 29.6% more.

In its release of the statistics, the CSO did point out that separate data showed that men tend to work more hours than women. In the last quarter of 2024, men worked on average 38.4 hours a week compared to women who worked 32.

Pensions

The figures prompted warnings that lower earnings for women means they are putting less away for their pensions.

Keith Butler, CEO of financial services intermediary Ask Acorn, said: “Women often earn less than, and as a result, don't have as much to save into their pension as their male counterparts. Wages in some of the job sectors traditionally dominated by women are often low. 

"In addition, mothers often take time out of the workforce, or move to shorter working weeks, to look after children. It is imperative that that the gender pension gap is addressed.”