Minimum wage workers most likely to work in sector worst affected by Covid-ESRI

The ESRI's latest research found most minimum wage workers in Ireland work in retail and hospitality-two sectors badly hit by Covid-19 public health restrictions. Picture: Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie

A person earning minimum wage in Ireland is more likely to work in the sectors worst affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

New analysis of minimum wage workers across Europe has been carried out by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

It has found there is a higher likelihood of being on minimum wage if you're young, have low levels of education and are a non-national.

Ireland has the second highest minimum wage rate in the EU at €10.20 per hour.

A research officer with the ESRI, Dr Paul Redmond, said most of these workers are employed in the accommodation, food and retail sectors, areas of the economy hard hit by public health restrictions.  

"In fact almost half of minimum wage workers in Ireland are employed in these sectors. Which is actually higher than any country that we looked at. 

"This is important because these are also sectors that recently have been hardest hit in relation to job losses due to the pandemic.  

"So this means that minimum wage in Ireland may have been disproportionately impacted by job losses in these sectors compared to their European counterparts," said Dr Redmond. 

The research results come as the rate of inflation of groceries at Irish supermarkets has fallen below 1% for the first time since the onset of the Covid pandemic, as the pace of growth of sales slows following a bonanza year.

Shoppers at supermarkets in the Republic — dominated by the big five of SuperValu, Dunnes, Tesco, Lidl, and Aldi — spent €3bn in the last 12 weeks, according to the latest survey by market researcher Kantar.

“A year on from the start of the pandemic, lockdown is still having an impact on shopping habits and, over the past 12 weeks, the market continued to grow," said Kantar retail analyst Emer Healy.

The big five supermarkets accounted for almost 90% of the €3bn spent in the latest 12 weeks.