Vol. 430 No. 6
23 Mr. McCormack asked the Minister for Social Welfare his views on the recommendation of the Second Commission on the Status of Women that jobsharing should be tax efficient from the employer's point of view, that is the employers and PRSI costs for two job-sharers should be no higher than for one full time employee.
Employers PRSI is paid at the rate of 12.2 per cent of earnings, subject to a ceiling of £21,300. In the vast majority of cases an employer would incur no additional PRSI costs by employing two job sharers instead of one full-time employee. Additional costs would only arise in the case of highly-paid employees, that is, those with incomes above the PRSI ceiling. For posts at these earnings levels, employers are likely to be more concerned about the quality of the contributions of the individual employee or employees, rather than administrative overheads.
Any change in the PRSI ceiling for job-sharers would have budgetary implications, and could also lead to demands for similar treatment from other workers, such as part-time workers.
