Irish nationals working in Ireland earn more each week than non-nationals, says CSO

While Irish nationals accounted for almost three-quarters (72.5%) of all employments in Ireland, people from Poland (3.2%), India (3.1%) and the UK (2.7%) had the next highest employment rates. File photo

Indian, UK, and Irish nationals working in Ireland are the top three weekly earners while Ukrainian nationals have the lowest median weekly income, new figures have shown.

The Central Statistics Office has published details on the weekly earnings of people in Ireland by their nationality, using Revenue data on the top 10 countries, which showed that the median weekly earnings for Irish nationals last year was €762.72.

While the median earnings for non-nationals was €672.76 a week, there was a wide disparity by nationality in the figures.

CSO statistician Darragh Turner said: “When it comes to weekly earnings figures, it is worth bearing in mind that Irish nationals have a much greater age spread across all sectors in the economy compared with non-Irish nationals, with those in the 15-24 years age group typically working fewer hours and earning the lowest median weekly wage.

“For example, 26.4% of employments among Irish nationals were in the 15-24 years and 60-and-over age group. This compared with 13.0% for non-Irish nationals.” 

In the case of Indian nationals, one third (32.2%) of them worked in the 'human health and social work sector' which makes up the health service. File picture: iStock

Indian citizens working in Ireland had the highest median earnings at €876.04 a week, followed by UK citizens on €780 a week. On the other end of the spectrum, Ukrainian nationals were earning €498.77 a week on average while Brazilians earned €563.69.

While Irish nationals accounted for almost three-quarters (72.5%) of all employments in Ireland, people from Poland (3.2%), India (3.1%) and the UK (2.7%) had the next highest employment rates.

The CSO said there were some “notable concentrations” of nationalities in certain economic sectors.

In the case of Indian nationals, one third (32.2%) of them worked in the “human health and social work sector” which makes up the health service while one in four Ukrainians (25.3%) worked in the accommodation and food services sector.

Brazilians made up over 5% of workers in the accommodation and food services sector.  Nearly half of all Brazilian nationals (49.9%) were working in wholesale and retail trade (€536.36 a week), accommodation and food services (€440.28 a week), and administrative and support services (€435.79 a week). 

All of these were below the national median weekly earnings of €730.89.

Nationalities from Ireland, India, and United Kingdom had median weekly earnings higher than the national median of €730.89 in 2024https://t.co/qcWF6tZOl0#CSOIreland #Ireland #Earnings #LabourCosts #LabourMarket #BusinessStatistics #Business #BusinessNews #IrishBusiness pic.twitter.com/hs1noVVyPU

— Central Statistics Office Ireland (@CSOIreland) September 3, 2025

The CSO said there was a clear relationship between earnings in sectors such as food services and age, with a greater proportion of younger workers on lower wages.

On the other hand, the tech sector proved a lucrative one for many nationalities with UK nationals earning €1,539.90 a week, while Indians earn €1,512.82 and Spaniards earn €1,491.42.

The CSO said its data points to “significant growth and change” in Ireland’s employment market over the last five years.

“The three largest increases of those employed over the last five years were among those from Ukraine (+1,122.0%), India (+242.9%), and Brazil (+73.3%),” it said. “Nationals from Poland and Lithuania have both seen a decrease in employments over the five-years from 2019-2024, down 5.4% and 4.0% respectively.”