New figures from the Central Statistics Office today show that average weekly earnings in the public sector - excluding health - rose by 5.5% in the year to June 2005.
The CSO says that the index of average earnings, which excludes some effects of changes in employment composition, rose by 6.3% for the same period.
A total of 249,200 people were employed in the public sector - excluding health - in June 2005, up from 244,000 the same time last year.
Employment in education rose from 86,800 to 91,100, employment in the health sector rose from 97,700 to 100,900 while employment in the semi-state sector fell from 58,100 to 57,300.
Mark Fielding, chief executive of small business group ISME said the figures showed that the average wage in the public sector was now 45% above the average industrial wage of €30,014 and 95% above the average in the SME sector.
ISME called for the benchmarking process to be replaced by 'a radical overhaul' of the public service, and also urged the Government to reduce public sector numbers by 5,000.
