Public sector wage premium, by education level: Tertiary education in Ireland

Ireland: Public sector wage premium, by education level: Tertiary education was 0.1388 compared to formal wage employees in 2017. ▼ Falling

Latest (2017)
0.1388 compared to formal wage employees
Change on year
down 14.2%
World rank
23rd
of 54 countries
All-time high
0.3199 compared to formal wage employees
in 2015
All-time low
0.1388 compared to formal wage employees
in 2017
Years of data
14
2004–2017

Public sector wage premium, by education level: Tertiary education in Ireland, 2004–2017

00.10.20.32004201020172004: 0.232 compared to formal wage employees2005: 0.294 compared to formal wage employees2006: 0.3 compared to formal wage employees2007: 0.231 compared to formal wage employees2008: 0.141 compared to formal wage employees2009: 0.314 compared to formal wage employees2010: 0.245 compared to formal wage employees2011: 0.27 compared to formal wage employees2012: 0.287 compared to formal wage employees2013: 0.22 compared to formal wage employees2014: 0.144 compared to formal wage employees2015: 0.32 compared to formal wage employees2016: 0.162 compared to formal wage employees2017: 0.139 compared to formal wage employees

Source: World Bank. Measured in compared to formal wage employees.

Analysis

The most recent figure for public sector wage premium, by education level: tertiary education in Ireland is 0.1388 compared to formal wage employees, measured in 2017. That is the lowest value across all 14 years on record.

That represents a change of down 14.2% on the previous year and down 39.8% over ten years.

Over the whole period, public sector wage premium, by education level: tertiary education in Ireland peaked at 0.3199 compared to formal wage employees in 2015 and was at its lowest, 0.1388 compared to formal wage employees, in 2017.

Ireland ranks 23rd of 54 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.

The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 14 years of available data.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2000s 0.2519 compared to formal wage employees 0.1407 compared to formal wage employees 0.3142 compared to formal wage employees 6
2010s 0.2233 compared to formal wage employees 0.1388 compared to formal wage employees 0.3199 compared to formal wage employees 8

Countries ranked near Ireland

  1. 20 Australia 0.1622 compared to formal wage employees compare
  2. 21 Estonia 0.1532 compared to formal wage employees compare
  3. 22 Paraguay 0.1407 compared to formal wage employees compare
  4. 24 Greece 0.1372 compared to formal wage employees compare
  5. 25 Latvia 0.1321 compared to formal wage employees compare
  6. 26 Bulgaria 0.131 compared to formal wage employees compare

See the full ranking of 54 places →

More reference data data for Ireland

All data for Ireland →

Frequently asked questions

What is public sector wage premium, by education level: tertiary education in Ireland?
Public sector wage premium, by education level: tertiary education in Ireland was 0.1388 compared to formal wage employees in 2017, according to the World Bank.
What is the highest public sector wage premium, by education level: tertiary education recorded in Ireland?
The highest recorded value was 0.3199 compared to formal wage employees in 2015.
What is the lowest public sector wage premium, by education level: tertiary education recorded in Ireland?
The lowest recorded value was 0.1388 compared to formal wage employees in 2017.
How does Ireland rank for public sector wage premium, by education level: tertiary education?
Ireland ranks 23rd out of 54 countries with data for 2017.
Is public sector wage premium, by education level: tertiary education rising or falling in Ireland?
Over the last ten years it is down 39.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this Ireland data come from?
The figures come from the World Bank, published as part of Public sector wage premium, by education level: Tertiary education (compared to formal wage employees). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 14 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Public sector wage premium, by education level: Tertiary education in Ireland. Statizoid. Retrieved 21 August 2026, from https://reference.statizoid.com/stat/public-sector-wage-premium-by-education-level-tertiary-education-compared-to-formal-wage/ireland/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://reference.statizoid.com/stat/public-sector-wage-premium-by-education-level-tertiary-education-compared-to-formal-wage/ireland/">Public sector wage premium, by education level: Tertiary education in Ireland</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Public sector wage premium, by education level: Tertiary education (compared to formal wage employees)
Unit
compared to formal wage employees
Source
World Bank
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
54 places, 657 data points, 2000–2021
Last refreshed