Highest salaries are in IT, Sales & Engineering

May 2, 2012 10:54 by Admin

The IrishJobs.ie Salary Survey 2012 reveals that workers in IT, Sales, Engineering and Accounting & Finance are Ireland’s biggest earners with over a quarter of IT workers earning €60,000 or more.
 
The highest earners, who for the survey were identified as those earning more than €60,000, broken down by sectors are in: IT (27 per cent), Sales (13 per cent), Accountancy & Finance (10 per cent) and Engineering (8 per cent). Lower salaries are evident in Secretarial & Administration, Hotel & Catering and Retail.

•      Highest salaries in IT, Sales, Engineering and Accounting & Finance
•      70 per cent of workers would move jobs for higher salary
•      44 per cent are rewarded with benefits and ‘perks’
•      If you want a pay increase, leave Dublin
 
However, the majority of respondents told IrishJobs.ie that they were not satisfied with their salary. 3 out of 4 workers admitted they are unhappy with their current pay and 70 per cent would change jobs for more money. According to the Irishjobs.ie Salary Survey, one quarter of respondents received an increase in salary this year. A third (30 per cent) received a raise of 5 per cent; a fifth got a raise of 20 per cent.  

The survey also found that 35 per cent of workers took a pay cut in the past year. One in four took a 5 per cent cut, with one in three taking a cut of 10 per cent while the remaining two fifths took a cut of over 20%.
 
Almost half of workers (42 per cent) receive an annual salary of between €20,000 and €40,000; with 5 per cent earning in excess of €80,000.14 per cent earn less than €20,000 per year.
 
Valerie Sorohan, IrishJobs.ie commented: “The results of our Salary Survey once again highlight the importance of salary as a key motivating factor for workers. While salaries have had to adjust in line with economic conditions, people have also had to adjust their expectations. For career seekers who are actively job hunting and workers keeping an eye on the job market it is always useful to know what kind of salary they can expect. They find out by going to our salary section in our career advice blog on IrishJobs.ie (www.IrishJobs.ie/salarysurveys) which contains information on pay for a range of sectors.”

Many employers continue to offer perks and benefits to reward their workforce according to 44 per cent of those surveyed. These include a pension scheme (67%) healthcare (56%) a phone (42 %); a company car (12%) and gym membership (12%).
 

Healthcare is the most sought after benefit, as voted by almost half (44 per cent), followed by a pension for 35 per cent. 15 per cent feel a company car is an important perk, while gym membership and a company phone are less of a priority for four and three per cent respectively. A company car is deemed more important for men at 21 per cent, than their female counterparts, with only 9 per cent naming it as a preferred perk.
 

Despite this over half (56 per cent) of respondents said they would be happy to relinquish their perks for an increase in wages.
 

On the subject of promotion, 4 in 5 (84 per cent) would prefer a salary rise to a new title. Promotion appears to be more important to those starting out in their career with one quarter of 20-30 year olds choosing an upgrade in title over salary as opposed to only 9 per cent of those in the 45-60 age brackets.
 

Salary levels are similar for both men and women up to a certain level, with a higher proportion of men (11 per cent) earning over €70,000 against 5 per cent of females.
 

The survey results suggest that work life balance is more of a consideration for women with one in three willing to agree to a reduction in salary if it would mean working fewer hours. In contrast, three quarters of men surveyed say that they would not consider this as an option.
 

Comparison Dublin, Cork, Galway
 

In Cork, more people have seen their salaries increase (32 per cent) than in Dublin with almost a fifth of workers seeing their salary rise by over 20 per cent in the last year. One third of workers in Cork have had no changes to their salary, but an equal number of people have seen their salary decrease (32 per cent) as increase. 

The situation is similar in Galway, where 37.5 per cent have seen an increase in their wages in the last year but a further 37.5 per cent have had their salary decreased. The greatest salary decreases have been in Dublin, where nearly half of the respondents told IrishJobs.ie they had experienced a cut of over 20 per cent. Whereas of those respondents based in Cork and Galway, nearly half told IrishJobs.ie that they had seen a decrease of 10 per cent.