Happier Irish put austerity woes aside

Irish people may be in the throes of austerity with wages little more than the OECD average, but we are some of the most satisfied people.

As is to be expected, our unemployment is comparatively high with just 60% of Irish people aged 15 to 64 having a paid job, below the OECD employment average of 66%.

But Irish people work just 1 543 hours a year, less the OECD average of 1 776 hours. Almost 4% of employees work very long hours, much lower than the OECD average of 9%, with 7% of men working very long hours compared with just 1% for women.