However, less people are employed at the moment.
While the cost of living continues to rise, Irish workers have seen their weekly earnings rise to record levels in 2022.
The data was revealed following a survey from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) that was published on Tuesday (31 May).
On average, Irish people earned €880.37 weekly in the first quarter of the year, an increase of 2.3% from the same period in 2021.
The sectors that saw the largest increases in weekly pay were the Administrative & Support Service Activities sector (+16.5%), the Financial, Insurance & Real Estate Activities sector (+11.8%) and the Industry sector (+7.4%).
Hourly earnings increased by 1.9%, while the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) accounted for 35.9% of all earnings.
“When considering the change in earnings, it should be noted that there may be a compositional effect due to the significant changes in employment in certain sectors," said Louise Egan, statistician with the CSO.
"The composition of the labour market in Q1 2022 may be very different to previous quarters."
The survey found a decrease in the number of active employments in 2022 when compared to the final quarter of 2021.
The sectors that saw the largest percentage decrease in employments from this period were the Accommodation & Food Services sector (-5.3%) and the Transportation & Storage sector (-3.9%).
“The Earnings and Labour Costs quarterly release publishes statistics on average weekly and hourly earnings, hours and labour costs," Egan said.
"Across and within economic sectors, the impact of the COVID-19 crisis continues to be experienced very differently. Preliminary estimates for Q1 2022 show average hourly earnings increased on an annual basis by 1.9% to €27.33 while average weekly paid hours increased by 0.3% to 32.2 hours from 32.1 in Q1 2021.
"The job vacancy rate in Q1 2022, which measures job vacancies on the last working day of the quarter, was 1.6%, up from 1.4% at the end of Q4 2021 and up from 1.0% at the end of Q1 2021. Average hourly other labour costs increased by 36.0% to €3.63 from €2.67 in Q1 2021.
"Refunded payments to enterprises, including EWSS, are recorded as subsidies and refunds received in the quarter, being amounts received by enterprises intended to refund part or all of the cost of wages and salaries and are deducted from other labour costs.”
The cost of living continues to be a concern for Irish workers, with Aontú's Peadar Toibín calling for the
M50 toll to be scrapped to ease the burden.
