Official figures show that average earnings in the industrial sector rose at an annual rate of 4.4% in the fourth quarter of 2007.
The Central Statistics Office said the average industrial worker earned €20.80 per hour, including bonuses. Excluding bonuses, the increase was 4.8%.
In the financial sector, the average rose by 6.3% to €29.53, but the rise was just 1.8% when bonuses were stripped out.
The figures also show strong employment growth in the financial sector, up 7,200 over the year to 85,100. In the industrial sector, employment rose by 1,800 to 241,500.
Today's CSO figures suggest that the demand for higher skill workers is greater than for lower-skilled workers in both the financial and manufacturing sectors, training and employment agency FÁS said.
FÁS also pointed out that the 2005 to 2007 period showed a widening earnings gap between high-skilled and lower skilled workers in the financial sector, with average hourly earnings rising by 17% for managers and professionals but remaining unchanged for clerical, sales and service staff.
Separate CSO figures show that 1,477 days were lost to industrial disputes in the first three months of 2008, down from 1,797 in the same period last year. There were four disputes in progress in the period. The manufacturing sector accounted for 87% of the days lost.
