This post reviews how the wage bill changed across different sectors during 2009, using the latest CSO figures on hours worked and wages paid. Construction and finance have their own issues, but the most interesting comparison is between the public service, where the pay bill still has not fallen, and the rest of the private sector, where it has fallen by 13%. The only sustainable solution involves connecting what public service organisations do back up with how they finance what they do.
This post reviews the ILO’s Global Wage Report and in particular its expanding dataset on internal inequality between top and bottom earners. While inequality has fallen in many countries, including Ireland, there is no strong evidence of a global trend in that direction. The figures contain an important reminder: even the poorest in wealthy countries live in conditions that average earners in most other countries would happily take.
Watching Monday’s Questions & Answers, I became increasingly baffled as to how poorly understood the gap between public sector and private sector pay in Ireland actually is. I conducted a mini-straw poll, through the various media of living room chat, email and Twitter. That poll made me realise that while I had been labouring under [...]
