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Assessing the wage gap between public and private sector employees in Ireland: issues, evidence and challenges


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Figure 1

Ratio of public to private sector weekly earnings 2008 to 2016*Note: * Quarter 2 returns.Source: CSO statistical release, 2012 and August 2016: Earnings and Labour Costs Quarterly.
Ratio of public to private sector weekly earnings 2008 to 2016*Note: * Quarter 2 returns.Source: CSO statistical release, 2012 and August 2016: Earnings and Labour Costs Quarterly.

Figure 2

Ratio of weekly earnings in finance and insurance, compared to selected industrial sectors.Source: CSO statistical release, August, 2016: Earnings and Labour Costs Quarterly.
Ratio of weekly earnings in finance and insurance, compared to selected industrial sectors.Source: CSO statistical release, August, 2016: Earnings and Labour Costs Quarterly.

EU countries with a positive hourly earnings gap in favour of public sector workers based on 2010 data (countries are ranked according to the size of the wage gap)

Wage gap allMale wage gapFemale wage gap
%%%
Cyprus212019
Ireland212022
Luxembourg202316
Spain151317
Belgium121013
Portugal121112
Italy11615
Denmark10813
Poland792
Greece8106
Austria675
Lithuania512–3
Slovenia582
EU average443

Wage gap (in percentage) in the public sector in relation to the private sector, 2004–2007 (with controls)

Hourly gross earnings, €Monthly gross earnings, €
All %Male %Female %All %Male %Female %
Spain252326Spain171420
Greece211726Greece161120
Portugal201922Ireland161418
Italy191622Denmark15526
Ireland191620Italy13817
Slovakia11812Portugal11714
Denmark11319Slovakia10611
Austria10414Austria10414
France547France3–17
Belgium537Belgium4–17

Studies using multivariate analysis that were conducted in the period 1994–2014

SourceData sourceEarnings measureControls includedEstimation methodologyOverall earnings premiumMale premiumFemale Premium
Boyle etal.,2004European Community Household Survey for Ireland 1994–2001Gross monthly wagesOccupation, educational attainment, full-time status, gender, public or private sector, nationality, age, age-squared, permanent/non-permanent job status, length of service with current employer, part-time status and size of enterpriseOLS (with interaction terms) and quantile regressions1994: 14.0%1994: 10.0%1994: 19.5%
1995: 14.6%1995: 10.6%1995: 19.8%
1996: 14.2%1996:9.1%1996: 20.6%
1997: 9.9%1997: 6.5%1997: 14.1%
1998: 13.4%1998: 10.9%1998: 16.5%
1999: 8.3%1999: 5.8%1999: 11.1%
2000: 11.0%2000: 8.2%2000: 13.4%
2001: 12.9%2001: 11.4%2001: 14.5%
Ernst & Young and Murphy, 2007National Employment Survey 2003Gross weekly earningsOccupation, educational attainment, full-time status, gender, public or private sector, age, age-squared, permanent/non-permanent job status, length of service, employer, total length in employment, log of overtime hours (38+) worked, log hours worked and full-time dummyOLS, B-O decomposition, PSM and quantile regressionsOLS: 8%OLS: 5%OLS: 10%
B–O: 10%B–O: 7%B–O: 13%
PSM: 10%PSM: 6%PSM: 12%
Kelly et al., 2009National Employment Survey 2003 and 2006Gross weekly earningsOccupation, educational attainment, full-time status, gender, public or private sector, nationality, membership of a trade union, membership of a professional body, experience, experience-squared, permanent/non-permanent job status, log of overtime hours (38+) worked, log of hours worked, shift work and supervisory statusOLS and PSM2003 OLS: 14.1%2003 OLS: 12.8%2003 OLS: 14.9%
2006 OLS: 26.6%2006 OLS: 26.6%2006 OLS: 26.5%
2006 PSM: 25.9%2006 PSM: 22.5%2006 PSM:25.2%
Foley and Callaghan (2010)National Employment Survey 2007Gross weekly earningsOccupation, educational attainment, full-time status, gender, public or private sector, nationality, trade union membership, membership of a professional body, age, age-squared, permanent/non-permanent job status, length of service with current employer, total length in employment, log of overtime hours (38+) worked, log of hours worked, shift work, supervisory status and size of enterpriseOLS, B–O decomposition. Both unweighted and weighted results shownOLS: 10.0%–14.5%OLS: 7.2%–13.7%OLS: 12.7%–13.9%
B–O: 11.5%–15.9%B–O: 9.0%–16.6%B–O: 13.9%–14.9%
Results with size of firm excluded:Results with size of firm excluded:Results with size of firm excluded:
OLS: 15.1%–20.1%OLS: 12.6%–19.2%OLS: 18.0%–21.4%
B–O: 16.0%–20.5%B–O: 13.7%–21.3%B–O: 19.2%–21.2%
CSO, 2012National Employment Survey 2009 and 2010Gross weekly earningsOccupation, educational attainment, full-time status, gender, public or private sector, nationality, trade union membership, membership of a professional body, age, age-squared, permanent/non-permanent job status, length of service with current employer, total length in employment, log of overtime hours (38+) worked, log of hours worked, shift work, supervisory status and size of enterpriseOLS, B–O decomposition, quantile regressions2007 OLS: 13.9%
2007 OLS: 13.8%2007 OLS: 13.0%2009 OLS: 13.7%
2009 OLS: 11.9%2009 OLS: 10.4%2010 OLS: 12.0%
2010 OLS: 8.5%2010 OLS: 5.4%2007 B–O: 15.1%
2007 B–O: 12.6%2007 B–O: 10.4%2009 B–O: 13.9%
2009 B–O: 12.1%2009 B–O: 7.1%2010 B–O: 12.0%
2010 B–O: 7.3%2010 B–O: 3.5%
Results with size of firm excluded:Results with size of firm excluded:Results with size of firm excluded:
2007 OLS: 21.4%
2007 OLS: 20.1%2007 OLS: 19.1%2009 OLS: 21.1%
2009 OLS: 19.1%2009 OLS: 17.2%2010 OLS: 20.4%
2010 OLS: 17.0%2010 OLS: 14.5%2007 B–O: 21.2%
2007 B–O: 18.3%2007 B–O: 16.2%2009 B–O: 20.3%
2009 B–O: 17.2%2009 B–O: 12.2%2010 B–O: 18.2%
2010 B–O: 14.1%2010 B–O: 10.9%
CSO 2013National Employment Survey 2009 and 2010Gross weekly earnings (with and without public pension levy deducted)Occupation, educational attainment, full-time status, gender, public or private sector, nationality, membership of a trade union, membership of a professional body, age, age-squared, permanent/non-permanent job status, length of service with current employer, total length in employment, log of overtime hours (38+) worked, log of hours worked, shift work, supervisory status and size of enterpriseOLS and quantile regressions2009 OLS: 13.5%2009 OLS: 12.4%2009 OLS: 14.2%
2010 OLS: 9.7%2010 OLS: 7.0%2010 OLS: 12.9%
Results with size of firm excluded:Results with size of firm excluded:Results with size of firm excluded:
2009 OLS: 21.7%2009 OLS: 20.2%2009 OLS: 23.5%
2010 OLS: 19.1%2010 OLS: 17.1%2010 OLS: 22.0%
Pension levy deducted from gross payPension levy deducted from gross payPension levy deducted from gross pay
2009 OLS: 4.7%2009 OLS: 2.6%2009 OLS: 6.2%
2010 OLS: 1.3%2010 OLS:–2.0%2010 OLS: 5.1%
Results with size of firm excluded:Results with size of firm excluded:Results with size of firm excluded:
2009 OLS: 11.1%2009 OLS: 8.7%2009 OLS: 13.7%
2010 OLS: 9.3%2010 OLS: 6.3%2010 OLS: 12.9%
CSO 2017Matched Quarterly National Household Survey and Revenue Commissioner's earnings data 2011–2014Gross weekly earnings (with and without public pension levy deducted)Occupation, educational attainment, full-time status, gender, public or private sector, nationality, membership of a trade union, membership of a professional body, age, age-squared, length of service with current employer, log of overtime hours, log of hours worked, shift work, supervisory status and size of enterpriseOLS and quantile regressions2011 OLS: 9.2%2011 OLS: 3.0%2011 OLS: 15.3%
2014 OLS: 5.0%2014 OLS:–0.7%2014 OLS: 12.2%
Results with size of firm excluded:Results with size of firm excluded:Results with size of firm excluded:
2011 OLS: 9.5%2011 OLS: 3.3%2011 OLS: 16.2%
2014 OLS: 5.3%2014 OLS:–1.0%2014 OLS: 13.5%
Pension levy deducted from gross payPension levy deducted from gross payPension levy deducted from gross pay
2011 OLS: 2.9%2011 OLS:–3.4%2011 OLS: 9.1%
2014 OLS:–0.7%2014 OLS:–6.4%2014 OLS: 6.5%
Results with size of firm excluded:Results with size of firm excluded:Results with size of firm excluded:
2011 OLS: 3.2%2011 OLS:–3.1%2011 OLS: 10.0%
2014 OLS:–0.4%2014 OLS:–6.6%2014 OLS: 7.8%