People living in Co. Donegal earn about 40% less than those who live in Dublin according to the latest data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The CSO released an earnings analysis for 2022 which revealed that Dublin held the highest median weekly earnings at €757.03 and Donegal had the lowest median weekly earnings at €540.
According to the data, our labour market was significantly impacted by Covid-19 between 2020 and 2022.
Compared to earlier years before Covid-19, earning statistics were affected by “composition of the labour market” and by the pandemic income support scheme in place since 2020.
CSO – weekly earnings
The CSO report stated that, in 2022, Dublin’s figures were shown to be 40.2% higher than Donegal’s calculated earnings.
Dublin’s figures were also 12.8% higher than the median weekly earnings for the state at €670.90.
Male median weekly earnings in Dublin were recorded the highest at €835.05 with Kildare following after at €832.29.
Donegal had the lowest median weekly earnings for males, recorded at 29.7% lower than Dublin’s figure, at €587.02.
Females in Dublin had the highest median weekly income at €672.22, followed by Kildare at €627.24.
Donegal earnings for women fell 27.3% lower than the Dublin figure, as they had the lowest median weekly earnings for females at €488.46.
Family farm earnings
The Teagasc National Farm Survey 2022 previously stated that the average family farm income in Ireland, rose by almost 22%, equivalent to “about €45,800”.
The Teagasc survey attributes it to the dairy and tillage sector where it said there was a “sharp rise”.
Teagasc added “dairy and tillage farms were better able to cope with production cost increases than other types of farms”.
According to Teagasc dairy production costs were their highest in 2022, with 32% increase.
Tillage also had an increase of 32%. As the milk prices increased, it resulted in an average dairy farm income of just under €151,000.
Compared to drystock income developments, there were lower incomes reported on half of the farms in 2022.