In this NERI Research InBrief no. 81 by Shauna Fitzsimons, NERI intern and Ciarán Nugent, NERI economist, they examine the average hourly earnings for under 30s relative to the wider average. There is a special focus on young women in three of the broad occupational categories characterised by third level entry requirements, controlling for full-time workers between 2006 and 2018.
Average hourly wages for young Irish women relative to occupational averages compare poorly in a high-income EU country context both in the Management and Professional groups. Relative within-occupation wages for young women are similar to the high-income EU average for the Associate Professional and Technicians group (2018), though they had been more favourable on average in an Irish context pre-crisis. Overall, the relative average wages of young Irish female workers in their peer groups in two out of three ‘high-end’ occupational groups fell more than in any of the other nine high income EU members considered in the analysis between 2006 and 2018 and fell second furthest in the third (Managers).