Who earns the most? Employees in information and communication sector have highest median weekly earnings

Median weekly earnings were €699.28 in 2023, which represented an increase of 4.2 per cent on 2022, new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows.
The data shows men earned more than women over the period, with median weekly earnings for men €770.52 compared with €623.22 for women.
The economic sector with the highest median weekly earnings was information and communication at €1,356.59. This covers jobs in publishing, motion picture and sound recording activities, radio and television broadcasting and programming activities, as well as telecommunications.
The next highest paid jobs were in the financial, insurance and real estate sector at €977.34, which covers activities such as banking, reinsurance, and pension funding, as well as holding assets.
The lowest earnings were recorded for the accommodation and food sector, which covers jobs in hotels, restaurants, and short-term accommodation, at €364.31.
Those working in the arts, entertainment, recreation and other services sector, which includes jobs in live performance, operation of museum sites, gambling, sports and recreation activities, earned just €426.66.
More than a fifth (21.7 per cent) of all jobs earned less than €400 per week in 2023, while jobs earning between €400 and €800 per week accounted for 36.4 per cent of all jobs.
Almost a third (30.9 per cent) of jobs had weekly earnings between €800 and €1,600, while a further 11 per cent of jobs earned €1,600 or more per week.
Almost three-quarters of jobs active in 2022, remained active into 2023. Of those continuously active jobs, median weekly earnings increased by 6.8 per cent.
Median weekly earnings were highest in enterprises with 1,000 or more employees at €925.40 in 2023, which was an increase of 4.1 per cent from €888.53 in 2022, with male earnings at €1,021.83 and female earnings at €865.09.
Businesses with one to nine employees had the lowest mean earnings at €594.92, with men earning a weekly mean of €702.24 and women €479.48.
Median weekly earnings were recorded at €793.71 for Dublin, which was 13.5 per cent higher than earnings for the State at €699.28 and 40 per cent higher than Donegal which, at €567.04, had the lowest.
The largest increase was recorded in Longford, where earnings rose by 5.4 per cent from €602.02 in 2022 to €634.62 in 2023. There was also a notable annual increase in counties Wexford (5.3 per cent) and Donegal (5 per cent).
Increases were less pronounced in Carlow and Leitrim, where weekly earnings rose by 3.5 per cent and 2.9 per cent, respectively.
The gap between male and female weekly earnings was largest among UK nationals. Indian nationals were the only nationality cohort in which the median weekly earnings among women (€908.44) were higher than those of men (€849.68).
The median weekly earnings of Irish men (€811.71) were 25.8 per cent higher than those of Irish women (€645.49).
Indian nationals had the highest at €883.74, followed by those from the UK (€745.71), and Irish nationals (€728.03).
Indian nationals accounted for 2.6 per cent of total jobs, up 0.5 percentage points since 2022, with almost half of those jobs recorded in the human health and social work (31.4 per cent) and information and communication (16.4 per cent) sectors.
Irish nationals accounted for 73.8 per cent of the total jobs, down 1.7 percentage points in the year since 2022.
The 40-49 years age group recorded the highest overall median weekly earnings at €855.39 in 2023, which was a 4.3 per cent increase on the equivalent figure of €819.75 in 2022.
Separately, median annual earnings rose by 3.3 per cent from €41,823 in 2022 to €43,221 in 2023. The median weekly earnings among men (€47,187) were 20.9 per cent higher than among women (€39,039).
Median annual earnings were highest in the information and communication (€76,002), financial, insurance and real estate (€56,582) and public administration and defence (€54,760) sectors.
Public administration and defence includes activities of a governmental nature, normally carried out by the public administration. This includes legislative activities, taxation, national defence, public order and safety, and immigration services.
The lowest median annual earnings were recorded among employments in the accommodation and food (€24,464) and arts, entertainment, recreation and other services (€26,811) sectors.