Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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165. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the current living wage as calculated by the Government’s formula at 60% of the median wage for 2025; the amount this works out at per year; the amount it works out at per hour; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28369/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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The Low Pay Commission makes an annual recommendation to me on the appropriate rate of the National Minimum Wage.

Each year, the Low Pay Commission, using the most up-to-date data available to them, estimates hourly median wages. These estimates are derived from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) Labour Force Survey (LFS) and the CSO’s Structure of Earnings Survey (SES).

The CSO makes available to the Low Pay Commission a data set where the LFS data is matched with quarterly wage data from tax returns made available through PMOD, the Revenue Commissioner’s PAYE modernisation system, to provide estimates for up-to-date hourly median wage data.

Separately, the CSO estimates a national hourly median wage using the SES. This survey is currently conducted once every four years.

The Low Pay Commission’s recommendations for the 2026 National Minimum Wage are due to be submitted to me in July of this year.

I expect that the Commission will provide estimates of the 2025 hourly median wage as part of these recommendations, using data recently released by the CSO.

The Commission may also provide more up-to-date estimates of the 2024 hourly median wage, using more recent survey and wage data.

Last year the Commission, using the most up-to-date data available to them, estimated that the 2024 hourly median wage was €22.89, using the LFS. Using the SES, the Low Pay Commission estimated a median hourly wage for 2024 of €21.35.

An hourly living wage for 2024, calculated at 60% of median wages, would therefore equate to €13.74, using the LFS; or €12.81, using the SES.

An employee earning €13.73 per hour, working 39 hours a week for 52 weeks a year would earn a gross annual salary of €27,853.

An employee earning €12.81 per hour, working 39 hours a week for 52 weeks a year would earn a gross annual salary of €25,979.

I look forward to receiving the Low Pay Commission’s recommendations for the 2026 National Minimum Wage in July.