Irish workers took 3.9% pay cut last year as wages lagged behind inflation, Oxfam says

Workers in Ireland effectively took an almost 4 per cent pay cut in 2022 with wage growth lagging behind inflation, while pay packets for chief executives increased by more than a quarter, Oxfam has said.

Irish workers fared worse than this global average last year, taking a 3.9 per cent pay cut, a loss of €2,107 in real wages compared to wages that kept up with inflation. This translates to working 8.3 days for free. The total loss for workers in Ireland was over €5 billion, according to Oxfam.

Last year The Irish Times reported a 27 per cent increase for 18 bosses of the largest Irish publicly quoted companies in 2021 giving an average pay packet of €3.46 million. This contrasts with chief executive increases of 15 per cent for the US and 4.4 per cent in the UK.

Oxfam Ireland chief executive Jim Clarken said the charity was highlighting "a very clear and alarming trend" towards inequality across the globe.

“This International Workers' Day, most people across the world find themselves working longer for less and struggling to keep up with the cost of living. Perhaps most alarmingly, we've seen progress in reducing extreme poverty grind to a halt with extreme wealth and extreme poverty having increased simultaneously for the first time in 25 years. Poverty is once again on the increase.”

“We urgently need greater taxation of the ultra-rich as a measure to fight inflation and inequality,” Mr Clarken added.

“We are calling for a national conversation in Ireland about taxing extreme wealth more effectively in order to redress the balance between sky-high executive pay and ordinary workers struggling to make ends meet.

“This week we heard that we pay double the European average for electricity in this country. Meaningful windfall taxes on excessive corporate profits should be introduced without delay to stop out of control inflation and profiteering.”