Living Wage
The Living Wage rate for 2022/23 is €13.85 per hour.
The Living Wage is based on the principle that work should provide an adequate income and enable individuals to afford a socially acceptable minimum standard of living, enable people to take part in normal day to day activities and live a life with dignity.
The Irish Living Wage rate is calculated on the basis of the Minimum Essential Standard of Living (MESL) research, and set by the Living Wage Technical Group. In this way the living wage is evidence-based, and reflects the real costs faced by employees in Ireland.
A Living Wage is intended to establish an hourly wage rate that should provide employees with sufficient income to achieve an agreed acceptable minimum standard of living. In that sense it is an income floor; representing a figure which allows employees afford the essentials of life. Earnings below the Living Wage suggest employees are forced to do without certain essentials so they can make ends-meet.
Further details on the Living Wage and on the methodology used to calculate the hourly Living Wage rate can be found on www.livingwage.ie
The Living Wage
The Living Wage is based on the concept that work should provide an adequate income to enable individuals to afford a socially acceptable minimum standard of living.
The Living Wage is the average gross salary which will enable full-time employed adults (without dependents) across Ireland to afford a socially acceptable minimum standard of living.
Unlike the National Minimum Wage, the Living Wage is an evidence based rate of pay which is grounded in social consensus. It is derived from Consensual Budget Standards research, which establishes the cost of a Minimum Essential Standard of Living in Ireland today.
| National Minimum Wage | Living Wage |
- A rate which is set by policy makers
| - A rate which is based on evidence and research
|
- Does not reflect the cost of a standard of living
| - Benchmarked against the cost of minimum standard of living
|
- Does not change as living costs change
| - Updated each year to reflect changes in the cost of a Minimum Essential Standard of Living
|