Jack Wall
Ceist:76 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Finance if he will provide the most recent available figures in relation to wage inflation in the private sector, by sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19501/98]
Written Answers. - Wage Inflation.
Pay movements in the private sector are recorded by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in their quarterly statistical releases on earnings. The CSO produce data on the following sectors — industry, construction and banking, insurance and building societies. The table below sets out the average weekly increases in each sector in the year to December 1997, the latest date in respect of which figures are generally available for the various sectors.
|
% Increase in the year to December 1997 |
Average Weekly rate to December 1997 |
|
|
Industrial Earnings |
||
|
Industrial Workers |
3.6% |
£298.23 |
|
Non-industrial Workers |
6.9% |
£458.45 |
|
All Employees |
5.1% |
£342.88 |
|
Construction Industry |
||
|
Skilled Operatives |
27.1% |
£455.15 |
|
Unskilled Operatives |
11.7% |
£322.17 |
|
All Employees |
19.2% |
£368.07 |
|
Banking, Insurance and Building Societies (total) |
3.4% |
£415.67 |
The CSO data indicates that average weekly earnings of industrial workers increased by 3.6 per cent in the year to December 1997. The increase in the average hourly earnings was 3.2 per cent over the same period.
Average weekly earnings in the banking, insurance and building societies sector increased by 3.4 per cent in the year to December 1997.
Construction industry wages have been increasing at a much faster rate than those in other sectors. The increase of 19.2 per cent reported by the CSO for the year to December 1997 includes both an increase in the hourly rate of 14.4 per cent and an increase in hours worked of 4.3 per cent. The increase in hours worked can lead to increased overtime payments with a resultant impact on hourly rates. An increase in the rates of pay was agreed between the Construction Industry Federation and the unions, including special pay increases for electricians and apprentice electricians. Some of these were due earlier in the year, but were not implemented until the last quarter. Provisional figures for earnings in the construction industry for March 1998 show a slow down in wages growth with average weekly earnings for all grades increasing by 9.2 per cent year on year. This reflects an increase of 12.9 per cent in the hourly rate and a decrease of 3 per cent in the hours worked.
In the light of the above, I am satisfied that the terms of Partnership 2000 are holding in the private sector in general. Some pressures are emerging in certain sectors, possibly reflecting sectoral labour shortages in some instances. Government policy is directed to ensuring that skilled labour supply is maintained and thus that sectoral strains do not become serious and do not spill over into the economy generally.