Men outnumber women seven to three when it comes to Ireland’s top earners — despite the two sexes being evenly distributed when it comes to the rate of employment.
According to the latest data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), almost three-quarters of the top 1% of earners are men.
A similar gap exists among the top 10% of earners — 70% men, 30% women — but this closes among the top 25% of earners, with men accounting for 62% compared to women at 38%.
Since 2012, the number of women in the top 1% has increased by 6.5%, bringing the figure to 25%.
There was also a marginal increase in the percentage of women in the top 10% of earners. However, during this same period, the proportion of women in the top 25% of earnings decreased by 1.1%.
The median annual salary for men in Ireland currently sits at €45,537 compared to €37,782 for women.
The national average in 2022 was €41,824. For the top 1% of earners, the median earning for men was €285,672 while for women it was €277,613.
Men’s annual earnings were found to be greater than women’s at every percentile last year.
“The greatest disparity between female representation in employment and those in the top 1% of earnings occurs in the education and health sectors,” said statistician in the earnings analysis division, Eimear Heffernan.
“However, 29% of employment among those with earnings in the top 1% of this sector were represented by females.”
In the health and social work sector, women occupy 35% of employment within the top 1% of earners.
Women’s earnings peak at an earlier age than men’s. They earn the most between the ages of 40 and 49, after which there is a continual decrease until retirement. Men earn the most between the ages of 40 to 59 but then experience a more rapid decrease over the next number of years.
The highest earnings are achieved between the ages of 40 to 49 except for those in counties Clare, Meath, Sligo, and Waterford.
The CSO also released the earnings of workers by county and, unsurprisingly, Dublin people earn the highest median annual wage at €46,136 which is €4,313 above the national average.
Earnings in the capital ranged from €27,197 in the accommodation and food service industry to €82,103 in the information and communication sector.
The information and communication sector had the highest median annual earnings in 17 counties in 2022.
Those working in Donegal had the lowest median salary coming in €8,300 less than the national average.
Here, those working in arts and entertainment earned just €18,574 while those in education averaged €53,337.
Workers in Cork have the fifth highest average earnings (€42,763) coming in behind Kildare (€45,173), Meath (€43,557), and Wicklow (€43,140).
Those aged 15 to 24 years and living in Kilkenny earn the lowest with median annual earnings of €18,816.
The highest paid group are those working in Dublin and aged between 40 and 49 years with median earnings of €53,500.
