February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Andrew Bushe
DUBLIN — Average weekly earnings increased by 9.5 percent last year on top of tax giveaways in the budget, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office.
The pay raises and tax handouts mean that net take home pay rose by well in excess of the average 5.6 percent inflation during the year and will fuel fears the economy will become uncompetitive and overheat.
The biggest increase were in the distribution sector, where earnings jumped by 12.3 percent to an average £400.64 a week in December.
Average pay in the business services sector were £427.23 per week, a rise of 8.1 percent in the year.
The highest weekly earnings were recorded in the post and telecommunications sector at £593.14 in December, while the lowest were in accommodation and catering at £265.41.
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Housing market
Meanwhile, prices in the booming housing market rose 19.1 percent in the year to March, but the rate of increase eased for the fourth consecutive month, according to the Irish Permanent/ESRI property index.
In the first three months of the year houses prices grew by 2.8 percent, compared to 4.7 percent over the same period last year.
Nationally, the average price paid by a first-time buyer in March was £124,268. However, in Dublin they paid £161,805, compared to £109,590 for the rest of the country.
Irish Life and Permanent, which sells almost one in five mortgages, said that in the first three months new and secondhand house prices have grown by 3.3 percent and 2 percent, respectively.