Eurostat, the EU Statistics Agency, recently released new data on the proportion of low-paid workers in Ireland and across the EU. Their analysis defines low-earnings in relative terms measured as those earning two thirds or less of the national median gross hourly earnings. Median earnings are the earnings of the middle worker in the distribution of workers from the lowest earner to the highest earner. The data is from the 2010 Structure of Earnings Survey, a survey that occurs every four years across the EU. Its key findings for Ireland are:
• The low-wage threshold in 2010 was €12.20 per hour
• 20.7% of Irish workers are considered low paid
• Low pay is more common among women, those with low education levels and workers with fixed duration contracts.
Details of the Eurostat report are here