Big earners were not all in the public service

INCOME distribution is top-heavy in Ireland. The top 20% of taxpayers pocketed 50% of all earnings in Ireland in 2006.

The top 5% got 25% of the country’s wage packet, while it took the bottom 60% to earn the same amount in that year.

The public service, in its broadest possible definition, was then 17% of the labour force. There was one public servant for every five private sector workers. The numbers of men and women at work in the private sector were in the ratio 60:40, while there were nearly twice as many women as men working in the overall public sector.