Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 18 October 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Low Pay Commission Recommendations on the National Minimum Wage: Discussion

Dr. Frank Walsh:

Internationally, this is a general thing. It has been documented more in other countries than in Ireland but you would certainly guess that it is the same here. Wage growth is fairly strong for that reason. We looked at some data on vacancies and so on in the report. Labour markets are tight. The unemployment rate is 4%, so you would expect that. It has been documented extensively internationally not only that there is wage pressure but that there is wage compression because wages at the lower end are catching up little. I would expect that to be true.