Average hourly earnings increased by nearly €2 to over €25 in the second quarter of the year.

A new report published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows the impact of the pandemic on different job sectors across the country. Figures revealed that average weekly earnings in the second quarter of 2020 were €819.13, following an increase of 2.9% between the first and second quarter of this year. Average hourly earnings, meanwhile, increased by 7.9% to €25.57 from €23.69 in Q2 2019, according to the report published on Tuesday. "In a positively skewed earnings distribution, mean earnings are greater than median earnings as the mean is increased by those higher earners. In such cases median earnings (the middle earner in the economy or sector) may be a more reflective figure of the average earnings of employees in the economy or sector." The figures showed that employees working in IT continue to take home the biggest salaries, while those in the hospitality sector get paid the least. The report found that between the first and second quarter of 2020, the number of jobs fell by 13.5% with all economic sectors experiencing decreases as the Irish economy ground to a halt due to worldwide lockdown measures that were implemented due to Covid-19. It states that the accommodation and food industry took the biggest hit, with a 61% reduction in employments, while the arts and entertainment industry also took a major hit, with a 39% decrease. Overall, largely due to the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS), average hourly other labour costs decreased by 36% to €2.44 in the second quarter of this year from €3.81 in the same period in 2019. Commenting on the figures, Louise Egan, Statistician with the CSO, said: "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. "The composition of the labour market in Q2 2020 is very different to the composition of the labour market in previous quarters, including Q2 2019, against which the annual changes are measured, with significantly fewer employments in certain sectors in Q2 2020. "The increase in average weekly earnings may be impacted to some degree by those employments that have left a sector having lower average earnings than those employments that remained in the sector in both quarters."