Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The average industrial wage is generally defined as the hourly or weekly wage rate of industrial workers in the industrial sector. Until June 2007, this data was collected in the Quarterly Industrial Inquiry (QII), in respect of industrial enterprises with 10 or more employees. In the QII, the average industrial wage was recorded on the following basis:

The industrial sector included manufacturing industries; mining and quarrying; and the electricity, gas and water supply sector.

Industrial workers were defined as operatives, maintenance workers, storekeepers, packers, cleaners, basic supervisory staff and apprentices. Managerial, professional, technical and clerical staff were not included in the calculation of the average industrial wage.

Wages included the gross amount paid to employees before tax and PRSI. They included regular bonuses, overtime, service pay, shift pay and allowances, commissions, and regular bonuses. They excluded irregular pay, back-pay and redundancy payments.

The Earnings, Hours and Employment Costs Survey (EHECS) provides more detailed information, from 2006 onwards, on earnings, labour costs and hours worked in the industrial and financial sectors. During 2008, this new survey will be extended to other sectors. The results of the EHECS survey are contained in the quarterly Earnings and Labour Costs release, which was first published by the CSO in August 2007.

The EHECS survey involves some differences in scope from the surveys which it is replacing. For example, industrial enterprises with three or more employees are now being surveyed, whereas the QII covered workplaces with 10 or more employees. The EHECS survey also collects information for the entire quarter rather than for a single reference week in the quarter. The CSO has included broadly comparable tables of earnings and hours worked, from the old and new surveys, in the annex to the Earnings and Labour Costs quarterly release.