CSO wage report - Pay gains for public sector perplexing

There is both good news and some that can only be described as downright perplexing in the latest report on wage trends from the Central Statistics Office.

The good news is that it reflects an upward trend in the average weekly earnings of those fortunate enough to have a job. Measured by any yardstick, the fact that people are earning more, however small or insignificant the rise may be, has to be welcomed at a time when the Irish economy is still on its knees.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the CSO report, and one which no doubt will cause considerable confusion if not dismay among the vast bulk of struggling taxpayers, is that workers in the public sector are the beneficiaries of faster rising wages than their counterparts in the private sector.