Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 156: To ask the Taoiseach the number of employees on the minimum wage; the number of employees on the minimum wage who are male and female; the number of employees on the minimum wage who are under 25 and over 25 years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30526/09]

Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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The information sought by the Deputy is contained in the National Employment Survey (NES), an annual workplace survey published by the Central Statistics Office. The most recent NES was published in July 2009 and uses data collected for October 2007 as its reference point.

The National Minimum Wage rate in operation in October 2007 was €8.65 per hour. An estimated 83,800 employees were paid that amount or less, equivalent to 4.9% of all employees. There were an estimated 33,800 males and 50,000 females paid the National Minimum Wage rate or less. Of the 83,800 estimated employees paid the National Minimum Wage rate or less, 46,300 were under 25 years of age while 37,500 employees were 25 years or older.

More recent information on employees and the National Minimum Wage is available from the quarterly Earnings, Hours and Employment Costs Survey (EHECS) but only for the Industrial and Financial Intermediation sectors. The data for Q1 2009 shows that there were approximately 2,800 employees in the industrial sector (or 1.3% of all employees in Industry) who were in receipt of €8.65 or less, while there were estimated to be less than 50 employees in the financial sector (or 0.1% of all employees in the sector).