One in ten Irish adults are earning the minimum wage or even less, according to new findings from the Central Statistics Office.
There are more women earning the minimum wage and under than men, and a large proportion of those earning the minimum wage or less are aged 18-24.
For the nine months between April and December 2016, 10.1 per cent of employees in Ireland earned the statutory minimum wage of €9.25 per hour or less, according to The Journal.
A review into Ireland’s low minimum wage by the Low Pay Commission in 2015 recommended an increase into the national minimum wage from €8.65 to €9.25.
This was incrementally increased, with the first increase to €9.15 coming into effect in January 2016 and a further ten cent increase to €9.25 from January 2017.
However, the rate is still well below the recommended living wage rate of €11.50 per hour, according to Living Wage Ireland.
An experienced adult worker aged over 18 is entitled to the full rate of €9.25 per hour but young workers under 18 can be paid sub-minimum rates, depending on an employer’s discretion, according Citizen’s Information.
22,500 employees reported that their earnings as being less than the minimum wage and 132,600 reported earning the exact figure.
Women are more likely to be earning the minimum wage or less, with 54 per cent of those on the minimum wage or under being female.
Most of those earning low wages worked in the services industry, with four in five employees reporting that they worked in this area.
Young people aged 18-24 were more likely to be earning the minimum wage or less, with 38 per cent of workers in this age bracket. Three in five workers on the minimum wage or less worked part-time.
Non-nationals are more likely to be on the minimum wage or less, compared to Irish natives. 28 per cent of all employees on the minimum wage or less were non-nationals.
Another interesting finding from the study was the levels of education among those earning the minimum wage or less.
Lower levels of education were found to be a significant factor, with almost 20 per cent of all minimum wage employees reporting that they had only been educated to primary school level or less.
16 per cent of the lowly paid workers had completed higher secondary education and almost 19 per cent had not gone beyond lower secondary education.
Only a small fraction of those earning the minimum wage or less had a third level degree, they accounted for just 3.4 per cent of all employees.
