Eamon Ryan
Question:79. Deputy Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the estimated cost of increasing the minimum public sector wage to €11.90 per hour. [39315/18]
View answerThursday, 27 September 2018
Questions (79)
Written answers
The detailed costings sought in this request would require detailed data on the position of staff on each salary scale across the public service and details of the standard working hours per week for each individual grade. This data is not available to the Department.
Pay band data available to the Department indicates that some 96% of all public service staff are on salary points in excess of €25,000 per annum. The suggested wage at €11.90 per hour based on the Civil Service 37 hour standard net working week equates to an annual salary of €22,975.
Data based on Civil Service staff only at the end of June 2018 indicates that only some 1% of staff (FTE) in the Civil Service are on salary points less than €22,975. The estimated cost within the civil service, which is some 11% of the overall public service, would be some €3.9m (Headcount). Based on the above costing, assuming the same wage profile to the wider Public Service, it is estimated that it would cost €35.4m to introduce a minimum wage across the Civil and Public Service.
However it should be noted that any of those currently on an annual salary of less than €22,975 could be receiving remuneration in excess of the suggested minimum wage through additional premium payments in respect of shift or atypical working hours or are on salary scales that progress to the suggested minimum wage through incremental progression.
Furthermore, the pay increases under the new Public Services Stability Agreement 2018-2020: 1% October 2018; 1% for those earning under €30,000 January 2019; 1.75% in September 2019 and 2% in October 2020 will further reduce those earning less than the rate the Deputy has mentioned.